XY
by i scribble too
Summary: Taito, some Kenato. Taichi has hurt Yamato since birth. Unbeknownst to both of them, Taichi has always been attracted to Yamato. But things don't go down so well when you're male, in love, and . . . brothers. Throw in abusive older brothers and a friend, Ken, who's crushing on Yamato too, and things really don't look so good. Rated: M, strongly. Sibling abuse.
1. XY: One

**Author's Note:** Taito. Though, be warned, Taichi and Yamato are half brothers here – therefore, it _is_ INCEST. Gasp. There are also acts of cruelty, abuse, rape, and the like – so please don't read any further if you think you can't stomach that. This is definitely an "M" rating.

As stated, this will end a Taito. But the other major coupling – or rather the coupling acting as an obstacle before (between?) Taito – is Kenato. Ken is the same age as Taichi, and they're a year older than Yamato. There are also three "main" original characters . . . they're Taichi and Yamato's older brothers. They exist to cause problems! (I didn't want to use other existing characters for the "roles".)

So this is AU, of course. Taichi and Yamato will seem out of character because they were brought up differently – but hopefully their "real" characters will emerge throughout future chapters as the story progresses . . . at least I am hoping to flesh out their characters to mirror similarities between their canon selves. Yay! (I will probably fail. orz)

Disclaimer: I don't condone incest or any of the acts written (except homosexuality, of course). Thinking that they actually occur in real life makes me sad. Well, incest doesn't make me sad . . . just disturbed. So why did I write it – especially considering Taichi and Yamato aren't brothers in any way in canon? Well, because incest in fiction is kinda sorta hot. And it makes the story emote better, I think. Or I just felt like writing it. _Ahem_.

(Again I stress the "M" rating. You might be disturbed.)

Onwards!

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**1. XY: One**

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Yagami Taichi observed his younger half brother from his view on an adjacent couch. The television was tuned to some mindless soap opera, though like Taichi, it didn't seem as though Yamato was paying much attention. His eyes were directed at the screen, but they were dull and glossed over, allowing Taichi's eyes to roam freely over the other boy without being noticed.

Yamato's mother had been Caucasian – at least in part – because Yamato had light skin that seemed to glow; the result of an oriental mixture with their father's full Japanese blood, Taichi guessed. Half-casts were always so striking, and Yamato definitely wasn't an exception. Unless, of course, he was exceptionally _more_ beautiful.

He had silky blond hair that seemed to change in varying shades and tones depending on the light they were under – as if his hair somehow knew instinctively how best it would look in any situation. His eyes were an intense sea of blue; dark, and yet they seemed like glass almost – crystalline. Taichi didn't know how that was possible. They were framed by lashes just a slice thicker than most boys; and in direct opposition, his eyebrows were just a shade thinner than those of the same gender. His perfect features contrasted heavily with his pale, radiant complexion.

He looked exotic.

But Taichi didn't know why he was so fascinated with the way Yamato looked. Was it because he was so different?

Taichi and his older brothers all had dark features like their father – dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin. And here Yamato was, created by the very same father, all fair-skinned and pretty – he obviously took after his mother.

_Gorgeous._

Taichi sometimes wondered why Yamato's mother hadn't wanted him, apart from obvious reasons such as his being the child of a married man. Were her decisions on leaving Yamato in his best interest, or her own? If it was the former, Taichi noted, she had made a grave mistake.

Takaishi Natsuko had abandoned Yamato shortly after he was born, forcing their father Susumu to reluctantly take him in. Taichi's mother Yuuko had tried to cope with the fact that her husband had fathered a bastard child during a drunken one night stand, but ultimately couldn't – she took her own life after only a few months, aghast at her husband's infidelity, and the existence of a child they had not together created.

Their father had turned to alcohol as his escape. He had loved their mother deeply, and heavily regretted his alcohol-induced night with Natsuko – Yamato was his biggest mistake, and it had cost him his wife. He had five sons to raise by himself.

Yamato was only a few months old, Taichi barely a year old, Eito two years old, Toru six, and Hideki ten. Hideki, being the oldest, took on the role of parenting his younger brothers amidst his father's break down, with some help from Toru. Like their father, Hideki and Toru regarded Yamato coldly, even though he was just a baby – Yamato was, after all, the cause of their mother's suicide.

Their father had soon developed a violent side to himself, with the aide of alcohol no doubt, but Taichi could not recall a time when his father had ever hit him or his older brothers. Just Yamato. And he recalled a lot of them.

The earliest memory Taichi had of his father's abuse on Yamato was when he was about four. Yamato was only three, and he had spilt some apple juice on the table. Their father had grabbed Yamato up by the hair, and slapped him hard across the face. Yamato had cried, and sobbed for hours.

Once, Toru had gotten into a fight at school. Their father had yelled at him, then called for Yamato. At five, he got the beating meant for Toru. Another time Taichi had dragged Yamato with him to the park after school, and they had only started for home when it was getting dark. Since they were only eight and seven, that was too late a time. Only Yamato was hit.

On Hideki's nineteenth birthday, their father had gotten slightly drunk, and had decided to show his sons how to have sex – never mind the fact that he knew Hideki was already sleeping around.

He had grabbed a few condoms and some lubrication, and gathered his sons in his bedroom. He took hold of eight year old Yamato and plopped him down onto the bed, before removing his youngest son's clothes. Yamato knew what was coming – his father had been doing this to him for some time, though never in front of his brothers until then.

Hideki, Toru, Eito and Taichi had watched as their father opened the front of his pants and rubbed his penis to gain an erection. He had placed a condom onto his shaft, then slathered lube up and down all over his length, then grunted at Yamato.

Yamato knew what to do – he placed his hands up around his inner thighs to spread his legs further apart, then made a bowel movement in preparation for his father's large penis.

Taichi and Eito had looked astonished that Yamato knew what to do from a mere grunt, but Toru and Hideki had looked less impressed – they had suspected for quite a while that their father had been sexually abusing their youngest brother.

Yamato had whimpered loudly when their father inserted only about half of himself inside. He told his sons that considering Yamato's age and size, any more would be too much for him, and that he didn't want to break him – but girls their age would certainly be able to take their entire length.

The other boys had watched as their father gripped the base of his penis with his hand, to stop further than four inches going in, as he moved in and out of his son. Yamato was whimpering and panting and trying not to cry, his cheeks tinted red from the new audience.

After their father had finished, to Yamato's dismay, he had let Hideki and Toru fuck him. Eito and Taichi did not, however, as they were only nine and ten. But they had observed, and Taichi couldn't forget the overwhelming surge of emotions running through him.

Of course at the time he had no raging hormones, so the experience of watching had been in no way. . . sexual. But Yamato was obviously in pain, and the act had been different to just physical abuse, so Taichi didn't know how he felt about it exactly. He was torn between being intrigued, and confused as to whether it should have happened in the first place. He never said anything though.

Three years after that their father had crashed his car whilst driving home intoxicated. He was killed instantly.

Because Hideki was twenty one, and considering the ages of the others, the courts had given Hideki full custody of his brothers, as opposed to sending them to different foster homes. Yamato had been eleven, Taichi twelve, Eito thirteen and Toru seventeen.

Since their father was gone, it would seem like things would look up for Yamato – but he had always clung to their father, regardless that he had physically and sexually abused him on a regular basis. Yamato knew no other way of life – their father had always treated him like that, and he knew his place.

In rare instances, their father would treat Yamato like the others and even tell him that he loved him. That was enough proof for Yamato to think that their father _did_ love him, in some twisted way. Yamato didn't know it before he died, but their father had acted as a sort of barricade between Yamato and his brothers – Hideki and Toru in particular.

They had all been mean to Yamato growing up, as their father allowed that, but they weren't allowed to cross certain lines – their father was the authority figure, and he had final say in everything. Yamato was protected from what Hideki and Toru _could've_ done to him during those years.

But after their father died, Hideki was alpha male, and no one was there any more to restrict his actions. He was free to do what he wanted.

When their father had beat Yamato, it was maybe a few swipes to his face, and a couple kicks and punches to the stomach. When Hideki and Toru beat Yamato, it was more alike street fighting – grabbing him, pulling him, pushing him into walls, and numerous kicks and punches. And their beatings lasted longer.

They raped him more often, too. Eito and Taichi were both now old enough to join in, though very rarely did Taichi participate, and even then he'd just make Yamato suck him off. He had never anally penetrated Yamato. Taichi didn't know why exactly, since it was no big deal to the others – it was just another way to hurt and humiliate Yamato.

Taichi figured he was satisfied with just hurting Yamato with words and cruel treatment, and didn't have to sexually abuse his younger brother just to make it clear how powerless Yamato was against him.

But why had he always been so fixated on staring at Yamato since they were little?

Yamato diverted his gaze from the television screen as he felt eyes on him, and glanced at Taichi, of course catching his eye. He quickly turned back to the screen, before glancing back at Taichi a moment later to see if he was still looking at him. He was.

"What are you staring at?" Taichi accused, even though it had been he who was staring at Yamato.

"Nothing," was Yamato's quick, unassuming reply, not wanting to start something.

Taichi liked Yamato's voice, even when it sounded so small and hesitant. He imagined it would sound smoother, silkier – when Yamato wasn't so on guard.

"Oh yeah?" Taichi retorted in a familiar challenging, gruff tone he so often used on Yamato. "What's been happening on the show, then?"

He didn't think Yamato would know – though, neither did he. He had been busy staring while Yamato's mind had been off in space. Yamato could lie about what was happening, and Taichi wouldn't know – but Yamato didn't know that.

Yamato opened his mouth slightly, then swallowed, before attempting to answer. "I . . . I don't know . . . sorry." Yamato ended his lines often with an apology. Taichi had always found it slightly amusing.

"So you were staring at me," Taichi stated, knowing this was untrue, but not caring. Yamato's face scrunched up in confusion, as he had thought he had caught Taichi staring at _him_.

"No . . ." Yamato started, though unsure of what to say next without stepping on Taichi's toes. "I was just thinking about stuff . . ." He chose not to infer that Taichi was the one staring, hopefully letting the subject drop.

"Why did you look at me whilst thinking of 'stuff', then?" Taichi didn't let it go, curious as to what Yamato would say.

Yamato raked his brain to think of something unoffensive, though that was pretty tough since his brothers always managed to twist something completely innocent into an insult. He came up with nothing, since he figured if he lied about what he was looking at, Taichi would turn around and say he was the one staring at him after all – and thus he would have had just lied to Taichi. In which case, Taichi would probably hurt him. So he stayed silent.

After several more seconds of silence, with an unimpressed eyebrow raised, Taichi spoke, "What were you thinking of?"

"Just . . . school stuff . . ." Yamato replied slowly. He really wanted the conversation to end before Taichi got the chance to get really annoyed.

"Oh, yeah?" Taichi figured it was valid, as tomorrow would be the first day of the new school year. In fact, Yamato was going to be starting his first year of high school, while Taichi would be starting his second. "What about it?"

Yamato didn't know whether Taichi was genuinely trying to have a decent conversation with him, or whether he was humouring himself. He wasn't used to holding conversations with his brothers, as they often kept him out of their discussions.

"Just . . . worried, I guess. About starting a new school . . ." Yamato trailed off. It _was_ true, but he excluded his main thoughts – that he had actually been thinking about how much he wished he wasn't going to the same high school as Taichi and Eito, and how much they were going to no doubt torture him during school hours with their friends on top of what he endured at home.

"Oh," Taichi replied, looking bored. His attention then turned to the front hallway as a sound of a lock, and subsequently the front door opening and closing, were heard. A few seconds later Toru came into their view.

"Hey Taichi," Toru greeted, ignoring Yamato's presence.

"Hey," Taichi replied, flicking his eyes to what he hoped was boxes of pizza in Toru's arms. "Pizza?"

"Yeah," Toru confirmed. "To celebrate the start of another year of college. For me. And high school, for you and Eito. I guess."

"Thanks for the enthusiasm," Taichi replied dryly.

Toru grinned, then frowned as he glanced at Yamato. "Get off the couch," he ordered, eyes narrowed.

Yamato quickly did as told and sat on the living room floor. He disliked how they always tried to make him feel like he was doing something wrong – it wasn't like there was a written rule that he wasn't allowed to sit on the couch. Sometimes he would be sitting there without Toru or anyone else saying anything, and other times – like now – they said something. He disliked how their rules changed based on their moods.

"Did Hideki or Eito fuck you today?" Toru asked casually, as if it were a normal everyday question. Then he added with a snigger, "I know Taichi hasn't."

Taichi gave Toru the finger as the elder smirked back. Yamato shook his head lightly, hoping Toru wasn't going to rape him because of his negative answer.

"Hmm," Toru pondered slowly, studying Yamato's face, who had his head lowered so as not to look him in the eye. Toru smiled as he thought of an idea. "Go get the biggest vibrator. And some sticky tape."

Yamato's hopes died as he got up and slowly headed to Hideki's room to retrieve a vibrator eleven inches in length and five inches in circumference. He grabbed a roll of sticky tape, and a small tube of lube as well, before returning to the living room.

"Take your time," Toru said sarcastically, then looked at the KY Jelly in Yamato's left hand. He raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I said to bring any lube. Did I, Taichi?"

"Nope," Taichi replied, looking half-bored and half-amused.

"W-well, I figured . . ." Yamato stuttered in a tiny voice. Toru always managed to intimidate him just by being there – Hideki had an even worse effect on him.

Toru slapped Yamato hard and sharp, surprising him and making him drop the sticky tape and lube onto the floor. Yamato's right hand instinctively gripped the vibrator tighter, afraid it would fall too, especially if Toru decided to hit him again.

"Don't think for yourself, moron. We think for you." Toru glared at him, then shifted his gaze to Taichi. "You wanna insert it?"

Taichi shrugged. "But it's your area of expertise . . ." Truth be told though, he didn't really want to . . .

"Come on," Toru pressed, smirking. "You've never even inserted your own penis, at least insert this, eh?"

Not wanting to seem soft in front of Toru, Taichi rolled his eyes and held his hand out towards Yamato. "Fine. Give it here." Yamato handed him the vibrator. "I turn it on after, yeah?" he asked Toru, who nodded. "OK. So . . ."

"Pull your pants down and get flat on the floor," Toru barked at Yamato, who did as told, releasing his lower confines and laying face down on the floor obediently.

Toru then sat down on Yamato's back, facing Taichi who was on his knees before Yamato's buttocks. Toru spread Yamato's arse cheeks apart, making the puckered hole of his anus more visible to Taichi.

"It's not gonna go in easily without lube," Toru told Taichi. "But it should be fine. Just ram it in there real hard – don't worry about him."

Toru and Taichi exchanged chuckles as Yamato squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting penetration. Taichi pressed the tip of the vibrator – sculptured like a penis – into Yamato's arse, and felt resistance right away.

"Just keep pushing," Toru urged as Taichi seemed to be struggling to push more in. "There's ten inches left. Come on."

Yamato's anus was so tiny, Taichi observed. It looked so microscopic compared to the large vibrator in his hand – could it really fit? Then again, he had been awed whenever he had watched Hideki, Toru or Eito shove their eight inch cocks completely inside Yamato with relative ease.

Taichi grunted lightly as the head of the vibrator disappeared inside with a strong push. Yamato made some kind of strangled noise, obviously trying to hold back on yelling.

"That's it, since the head's inside it should be easier getting the rest all the way in," Toru smirked. "Especially considering how many times we've broken him in." He laughed, receiving a grin and a nod from Taichi.

Taichi pushed further inside, noticing that Yamato's anus was bleeding, but Toru didn't seem to care, so he didn't say anything. He kept shoving, prodding and twisting the vibrator's way deeper inside, receiving different noises from Yamato.

At last all eleven inches disappeared, and Yamato lay their whimpering with his eyes still closed.

"Well done," Toru clapped Taichi on the shoulder, before grabbing the roll of sticky tape and began securing the vibrator with it, adding to Yamato's discomfort. Yamato didn't even think the tape was needed, for he was sure the vibrator wasn't at risk of falling out, what with being as big and wedged up so far . . .

Toru then got off Yamato and flipped him over, grabbing Yamato's penis and pressing it against the inside of his right thigh, sticky taping them together, supposedly to stop Yamato from gaining an erection or properly relieving himself.

"You can turn the vibrator on now," Toru grinned at Taichi.

Taichi placed his hand at the bottom of the vibrator and pressed the switch on as directed, causing Yamato to jump slightly, making them laugh.

Another sound of the lock and front door opening and closing, and Hideki and Eito had come home, making their way into the living room.

"What . . .?" Eito questioned with a smirk on his face as he saw Yamato on the floor with sticky tape covering his penis and buttocks area.

"Vibrator," Toru answered, mirroring Eito's smirk.

Hideki observed their handiwork with a raised eyebrow, commenting, "What a waste of tape."

The brothers laughed amongst themselves, as Yamato struggled to keep calm from the constant vibrating movement in his lower body.

"OK," Toru pulled Yamato's pants up, before standing up himself. "If you behave we'll take it out tomorrow morning. If you don't . . . you can go to school with that thing buzzing inside you. But then, you'd enjoy that, no?"

Laughter ensued as Yamato got onto his feet awkwardly, trying to center his mind off thinking about the vibrator working inside him. He waited for commands with his head lowered.

"Has he cooked dinner yet?" Hideki queried Toru and Taichi, indicating Yamato.

"No," Taichi replied. "But Toru bought pizza. Do we still need him to cook dinner?" Taichi didn't know whether he was just asking a simple question, or trying to help Yamato out with his duties . . .

Eito sniggered, "If we let him cook with a vibrator up his arse he'd probably sperm all over our dinner." The other boys laughed.

"OK," Hideki decided, "Yamato, you're not cooking dinner tonight, so you can forget about having dinner as well. Get lost."

Yamato nodded, avoiding eye contact as per usual, and left to his room that he shared with Taichi. After their father had died Hideki had gotten rid of Yamato's bed, so now he slept on a thin mattress on the ground, with a stuffed animal as his pillow. He also had a cardboard box in the corner of the room where he kept all his clothes – hand-me-downs from his older brothers. Hideki rarely bought him something new.

Yamato closed the door behind him gently, leaving it unlocked as he wasn't allowed to lock it unless one of his brothers, usually Taichi, was in there with him. He went straight to his mattress that he had long since outgrown in size, laying face down as that was the most comfortable position, considering what was up his backside.

He sighed sadly, tears threatening to fall from his eyes – he hated that. He hated how he seemed to cry so easily, how it never took more than a few words from his brothers to crush him emotionally, how he still depended on his brothers regardless –

And he couldn't ignore the vibrator. It was starting to feel _good_. He moaned softly, his right hand unconsciously going down towards his penis to caress it – only to feel the undesired surface of sticky tape. He groaned, both frustrated and ashamed that the vibrator Taichi had lodged up his arse was making him hard.

He looked at the door. Taichi would be a while eating pizza, wouldn't he? He could turn the vibrator off until Taichi came in, and turn it back on before Taichi noticed it had been off . . . right? He stared harder at the unlocked door, as if it had the answers.

Clenching his fists in sexual frustration, he decided he'd risk it. The vibrator was making him feel so hot, and as it was so large, making his stomach feel like lead, as if something huge had ploughed into him; though he guessed that _was_ what had happened . . .

He reached down and turned the vibrator off. The soft buzzing stopped, and he waited with baited breath, as though his brothers would notice that the vibrator was no longer emitting any sounds from rooms away.

Nothing.

He relaxed a little, but knew he had to keep his ears focussed on the door for any sounds of Taichi's footsteps approaching. He was less eager to turn the vibrator back on now that it was off, but he knew he had to for the night before Taichi came back. He only hoped he'd manage to drift into a deep sleep, and hardly notice the thing.

Apparently he had thought too much of sleep. Staring at the door for what seemed like hours had made him bored and tired, and he had slowly drifted off. But he awoke with a start as Taichi shook his shoulders.

"Taichi . . .!?" he exclaimed, alarmed.

Taichi nodded, then beckoned at Yamato's lower body. "Is it off?"

It was an unneeded question, for they both knew the answer. But as Taichi had posed it, Yamato felt forced to voice an answer.

"Yes . . ." he replied, barely above a whisper. He lowered his eyes and waited for Taichi's reaction, be it verbal or physical, or both.

Taichi stared at him silently for a while, before finally stating, "You must've accidentally switched it off from tossing and turning so much in your sleep." And with that he had gone to his own bed, his back facing Yamato.

Yamato was frozen. Was Taichi being serious? No, his brother had known he had turned it off himself . . . right? But then why did he say it must've been an accident? Surely he wasn't making up an excuse . . . for _him_? It seemed like it . . . but that made absolutely no sense. Yamato had to be sure.

"Taichi . . .?" he spoke through the darkness, looking at his brother's silhouette. Taichi didn't respond, which would usually deter him, but not this time. "Taichi?" he repeated.

It took a long silence, but Taichi finally grunted in response.

Yamato took a deep breath. "Did you want me to turn it back on . . .?"

Back to silence.

And then, ever so slowly, Taichi pulled his covers up over his head, and burrowed himself closer towards the wall, and further away from Yamato.

He was ignoring Yamato's question.

It was hard to tell who was more surprised and confused; Yamato, or Taichi?

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**End of Chapter**

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. . . If you've made it this far, congrats! I've had to use this first chapter to set the background, so it was slow at the start . . . and I lost momentum as it went on, so excuse the ending. But the fun bits should be in the next chapters! (Note: My definition of fun may not be the same as yours.) Yamato meets Ken, and Taichi's all confused about whether he should hate Yamato or not, leading to him being nice to Yamato one minute, and mean to him the next. Ooh. _Cough_.

Review, please?


	2. XY: Two

**Author's Note:** Thanks for the reviews, especially from those who seem to be really into it! I wouldn't be updating otherwise. (And it took me six months to find time to finish this chapter!)

And a word of warning again: It only gets more disturbing, so if you can't stomach it, I _really_ recommend you turn back. :P

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**2. XY: Two**

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The next morning when Taichi made his way to the kitchen table, he found Hideki reading a newspaper absentmindedly with his more than half eaten breakfast in front of him. Under the table, it seemed Yamato was busy sucking off their eldest brother. Certainly, it wasn't an unusual scene.

Taichi took a seat in front of the only whole breakfast plate (Toru and Eito's plates were almost empty). He wondered how Hideki could sit there so calmly as Yamato pleasured him – he knew he'd be more, well . . . excited. Purely from the physical effects of it, of course.

Soon he could hear the noise of Yamato sucking and swallowing, and knew Hideki had come. After a minute or so, when Yamato was done cleaning up Hideki's penis with his tongue and zipping him up, he crawled out from under the table.

"Do Taichi," Hideki commanded bluntly, his eyes still on his newspaper.

Yamato's meek eyes looked over at Taichi, who shook his head. "Nah, I'm OK."

Hideki averted his eyes from his newspaper and looked at Taichi. "Let him. You won't make a mess on your uniform, he'll make sure of that. It's your first day of school, come on. Just let him."

Yamato stood there quietly, his face expressionless.

Taichi hesitated before answering, ". . . OK."

Hideki grinned, then turned back to his newspaper. Yamato got down onto the floor again, and crawled under the table, making his way to Taichi's legs. He carefully unzipped Taichi's school pants, and released his penis from the confines of his underwear, and took it into his mouth.

Taichi drank his glass of milk, resisting the urge to moan, as Yamato worked him up and down with his tongue; he was _really_ good at it. But then, Taichi figured, if you were sucking cock on a regular basis since you were about seven, you'd _have_ to be something of an expert.

He bit into his sandwich as he neared his orgasm. Yamato's pace decreased then, and Taichi, getting lost in the moment, reached a hand down under the table. He grabbed a fistful of Yamato's hair and forced the blond to deep throat him. He heard a choke at first, from the surprise probably, but then Yamato continued swiftly with long deep sucks. Finally, Taichi exploded at the back of Yamato's throat, who swallowed it all up rapidly so that there wouldn't be a single drop that escaped to mess up Taichi's uniform.

Hideki lifted an amused eyebrow at Taichi from across the table. "Enjoyed it thoroughly, did you?"

Taichi did look a bit spent. He flipped Hideki off.

"This is why you need a girlfriend, Taichi," Hideki chuckled.

Taichi didn't answer. He had a girlfriend once, back in junior high. Just the one. It didn't last long either, but she was nice and everything. He tried to imagine her sucking him off – but the image just wouldn't come.

Taichi shook his head, placing his near whole sandwich onto his plate. He then drank what little remained of his milk, got up and went to the fridge for a refill, took a small sip, then left it on the table. "I'm done."

Hideki nodded his head absently, still engrossed in his newspaper. "OK, go see if Toru and Eito are ready to go."

Taichi nodded and headed out of the kitchen. Hideki owned their only car and would drive them all – minus Yamato – to their respective school and college before heading to work. Otherwise Toru would take the train to his college, and Taichi and Eito would walk the twenty minutes to Odaiba High.

After a couple of minutes Hideki placed his newspaper down and got up from the table and gave Yamato 500 yen, which was his weekly allowance – or, rather, weekly food money for school. It was a stark contrast to the 5,000 yen he gave the other three every week. It basically bought him two pies and a bottle of coke. A week.

Every now and then random girls (who apparently liked him) would offer him food they'd cooked themselves – for him. He'd always respond awkwardly, not used to talking to people, much less girls, but nevertheless had taken their food gratefully with a smile. That seemed to make them happier, in turn.

But mostly he went without food at school. He was just grateful Hideki gave him anything at all and said his thanks and pocketed the money. He usually tried to spread it out over the week, but he knew he'd spend most of it today due to his lack of food yesterday.

"All yours," Hideki said, gesturing towards the leftover food on the table before leaving the kitchen.

Yamato didn't have to be told twice – missing dinner last night left him starving. He quickly collected their plates together and settled them down onto the floor, before one by one picking them up and scraping their remaining contents into one of the two dog bowls in front of him on the floor.

He then got up to place the empty plates in the sink, before quickly grabbing two empty glasses – Hideki and Toru's – off the table and into the sink as well. Then he grabbed Eito and Taichi's glasses and got down in front of the two dog bowls again, this time emptying the liquids into the other bowl. Eito only had a little milk left, but Taichi's glass had been almost full.

Yamato smiled a little. Taichi always had the most leftovers, and he liked to think his brother did it on purpose, but he really didn't know. It still made him happy though.

Toru, Eito and Taichi walked through the kitchen then, as Yamato ate his breakfast bent over the dog bowls. Toru and Eito sniggered.

"You better hurry," Eito remarked, "school starts in half an hour."

"Guys!" Hideki's voice then barked from the hallway. "I'm leaving without you!"

"We're coming, sheesh," Toru retorted, as the three then disappeared from the kitchen. A minute later, Yamato heard the door opening and closing. They were gone, finally.

He liked it when he was alone, even for a few short minutes. He knew they wouldn't be hurting him in that time period, and it made him feel safe. Though, he knew he wasn't. Would never be, probably. He was too dependant on them . . .

Finishing up his breakfast he took a quick shower, pulled on Eito's old uniform, and headed out the door. He practically ran to Odaiba High, as with other schools, if you were late three times you saw the principal, and Hideki never liked getting calls from the principal regarding Yamato. It angered him to be bothered about the youngest, and he always took it out on him, of course.

Yamato didn't want to be late.

* * *

At the junior high school, Yamato would usually spend recess and lunch inside the classroom; he was known to be a loner and nobody bothered him much. Today, however, was the first day of high school, which meant there were a lot of new faces in his grade; those students that had come from different junior high schools than his own.

This meant, apparently, that every girl he didn't know attempted to flirt with him.

He'd learnt his lesson during that first awkward recess and thus had decided at lunch to roam the school grounds to avoid any further relations with the opposite sex. He really didn't get girls; perhaps because he had grown up in an all-male household. He had nothing against them, but he would've preferred if the guys talked to him instead, though they rarely ever did. And when they did, they'd talk about Eito and Taichi. That's what puzzled his peers the most; the fact that Eito and Taichi were his brothers, both of whom were outgoing, whilst he was so . . . reserved.

Yamato sat down on a bench and began eating a cheap corn-on-the-cob he'd bought from the cafeteria. Looking over onto the field in front of him, he noticed Taichi playing soccer with a bunch of guys. His eyes did some scanning; he liked the fact that they were all, simply, _male_.

His eyes travelled down to their groins, and he attempted to guess their sizes from how big or small their bulges were, even though most looked the same and it was hardly an indication of their actual erect sizes. Still, this activity kept him amused for a while until he finished his corn and realised he was still hungry. Seeing as he only had about 200 yen left for the week, he decided he'd just have to wait for dinner that night – hopefully he'd _get_ dinner that night.

Wanting some water, he got up and began walking towards the drinking fountains. He must've stayed there longer than he thought as he heard a small chuckle behind him. Turning around, he recognised the guy – a rather _attractive_ guy – standing there as one of Taichi's friends on the soccer field. He had a smile on his face, so Yamato's alarm went down a bit.

". . . Thirsty," Yamato finally managed quietly.

The other boy chuckled again. "I can see. I'm Ken. And you're . . .?"

"Yamato . . ."

"Yamato." Ken smiled. "Did you want to play soccer? I saw you watching us."

"Oh, um . . . sorry. For watching –"

"What?" Ken said with amused eyes. "You don't need to apologise for that."

". . . Sorry," Yamato repeated, not knowing what else to say. Ken gave another laugh.

"You're a first-year, huh? Don't worry, all those nasty rumours about second and third-years beating up the first-years aren't true. So relax, OK? I'm a second-year myself and I don't plan on hurting you."

"Oh . . . thanks," Yamato replied awkwardly to a chuckling Ken. Apparently this guy thought he was timid because he was new, and not because he was friends with Taichi. He started to walk away from the older boy. "Well . . . bye . . ."

"Hey, wait," Ken said, and Yamato turned back around to face him.

Yamato looked relatively calm, though unsure, but inside he was fearing what the other boy wanted. It was mainly Eito's friends who used him, but there were a few of Taichi's friends as well . . . though this guy had been nice to him so far, so maybe he didn't know about their home life. "Yes?" he voiced timidly.

Ken walked a few steps closer to him. "Have you got friends? I mean . . . did you make new friends today?"

"No . . ." Yamato replied with a confused expression. What kind of question was that?

"Really?" Ken asked, visibly surprised. "I'd have thought a guy who looked like you would be pretty popular . . ."

Yamato's cheeks tinged a light shade of red. "I . . . um, I'm not very good company . . ."

"Oh?" Ken quirked an eyebrow, then broke into a soft smile. "I think you're alright. Say, how about you and I hang out after school? That way I can really judge whether or not you're 'not very good' company."

Yamato was a bit taken aback. Sure, a few girls had asked him to 'hang out' with them before, and he'd always decline, but never did a guy ask him . . . ever. He wasn't 'one of the guys' and no male had ever shown an interest in being his friend. He didn't blame them, of course, for it was his reserved nature that kept them away; and it was the way he wanted it. Well, the way he wanted it due to circumstances he couldn't control.

"So?" Ken asked when Yamato didn't reply. "Yay, nay? We can go get some ice cream at the mall."

"I . . . I don't have any money . . ." Yamato finally replied, embarrassed.

Well, he had money, but 200 yen was hardly worth mentioning, especially since it had to last him the rest of the week. Besides, ice cream to him was a 'luxury'; he couldn't afford to spend what little money he had on junk food when he needed _real_ food in his system. The last time he ate ice cream . . . well, he must've been nine or ten and his dad had bought him a cone for Christmas or something.

"Oh no worries," Ken replied. "I'll pay for you."

Yamato was tempted, but felt forced to decline. Besides, what if this guy was just playing around with him? "But that . . . wouldn't be fair."

"It's just ice cream," Ken smiled genuinely. "What, 300, 400 yen? It's not going to break my bank."

". . . Well, I can only stay about an hour or so . . ." he relented hesitantly. His brothers didn't mind where he went after school as long as one of them hadn't specifically told him he needed to be somewhere, or as long as he got back home before six to start dinner. Usually he'd go to the library just to keep away from home for as long as possible, or he'd go to the mall to eat whatever food samples there were.

"That's fine." Ken grinned, then added teasingly, "I mean it's not like a _date_ or anything." He'd meant it as a joke between two guys, but couldn't help his tone being slightly flirtatious.

Yamato gave him a small unsure smile in return.

* * *

Yamato shot Ken what he hoped was his best grateful smile as he finished off his 400 yen ice cream. He had tried to convince Ken it was OK if he bought him a 60 yen cone from McDonald's, but Ken refused, saying it wasn't 'real' ice cream. Yamato was rather glad he had.

To Ken, Yamato seemed like a kid; he just seemed so _innocent_, eating his ice cream slowly as if savouring the taste of something wonderful, and he wouldn't stop thanking him, who thought his over gratefulness was kind of strange (it _was_ just ice cream) – but also cute. Really cute.

"I better be going," Yamato said, an apologetic look on his face. Even though they had walked together after school to the mall and sat around eating ice cream and talked for forty five minutes or so, his whole composure was still a bit unsure, and his voice was always so small, Ken thought, as if he wasn't used to talking much. "Thanks again, for . . . being really nice to me."

Ken smiled. "Well I didn't think being mean to you would go down so well. I'm glad you enjoyed your ice cream so much. Perhaps we can do this again some other time? Possibly a different junk food."

Yamato gave a small laugh, surprising himself and Ken. They smiled at each other; one awkward, the other encouraging.

"I'll . . . see you at school tomorrow," Yamato said, standing up from the booth they were in.

"I'm glad you said that," Ken responded. "Because _I_ was planning to see you at school tomorrow. But now I know that _you're_ planning to see me at school tomorrow too. That can only equal success."

Yamato grinned down at him. "I'll see you. And thanks."

"'Thanks' and all its variants must be your favourite words," Ken remarked with a smile. "Oh, and 'sorry'."

Yamato stayed smiling but it slipped a little as a light shade of sadness passed through his face, not going unnoticed by Ken. If he had said something wrong, he didn't know what.

"Uh, sorry. Just a joke, Yamato," Ken made sure to say quickly.

"Oh – no. Don't – don't say sorry . . ." Yamato said, flustered. No one said sorry to him – ever. He was the one who was always meant to say sorry – he couldn't have the nicest guy he'd ever met say _sorry_ to _him_. Ken didn't have to and he didn't deserve it.

Ken was a little confused. "OK . . . I'd apologise again, but clearly, you wouldn't like that . . ."

Shit. He'd fucked up. Now Ken hated him. "I'm – I'm sorry," Yamato spluttered, before quickly walking away.

Ken would've called or went after him but – well, he was more than a little confused. He sat in the booth trying to decipher what had just happened, exactly. Yamato just seemed to freak after his apology and then . . .? Poof. He was gone.

It was all very weird. Yamato was very weird. But . . .

Well, it all went back to Ken thinking he was cute. Not just in looks – certainly, he scored major points there – but his hesitant personality and the little quirks . . .

He liked him.

He just wondered whether Yamato liked him back.

During their talks he had made several subtle hints about his sexuality and his interest in Yamato, and he hoped they had been picked up, as Yamato didn't seem to be fazed by those hints. Just shy. And cute.

Ken was let out of his thoughts as he was suddenly joined in the booth by two of his friends – Daisuke and Taichi.

"'Sup, man?" Daisuke greeted.

Taichi looked at the two empty ice cream glasses on the table and asked with a teasing grin, "Was there a girl here?"

"Alright, man!" Daisuke nudged Ken with an equally teasing grin. "I was starting to think you were gay or something."

"Ha ha," Ken said good-naturedly. He _was_ gay, but no one knew besides his parents and brother. And he wasn't planning to come out in high school and face all that prejudice shit, so . . .. "What about Taichi, huh? I've never seen him with a girl."

"He had a girlfriend back in junior high," Daisuke replied before Taichi could say something.

Taichi nodded in agreement. "What he said."

"Whatever," Ken replied. "What are you two bozos doing here?"

"Just hangin'. We were about to go to Taichi's to play some video games and then we saw you through the window! So we thought we'd be nice and stuff and ask you if you wanted to come with?"

"Video games?" Ken pondered. "Sure. I rule at 'Monkey Madness'."

* * *

Taichi unlocked the apartment door and stepped one foot inside – before backtracking and closing the door a second later, bumping into his two friends who were behind him.

"What?" Daisuke asked, a tad annoyed.

"Wait here for a second. I just need to do something," Taichi told them as he re-opened the door and disappeared inside, closing the door in their faces. Daisuke gave Ken a confused expression, and Ken shrugged in return.

Inside the apartment Taichi swiftly walked into the living room on a scene he expected to see based on the noises he heard prior; Eito thrusting into Yamato from behind on the couch.

"Jesus Eito," Taichi began, "my friends are here! Take it to your room, yeah?"

"I couldn't find him at lunch today," Eito indicated Yamato by thrusting particularly hard, "so I'm punishing him for not being available."

"Yeah, that's great and all, _but_ _my friends are here_," Taichi repeated, "so take it to your room!"

Eito sighed dramatically and, holding the base of his condom, pulled out of their younger brother. The pain on Yamato's face was obvious; Eito had after all just raped him after a night of having a huge vibrator up his arse.

"C'mon," Eito said, grabbing Yamato and pushing him towards his room, "we're not done yet."

Taichi squashed a tiny sense of pity before turning out of the living room and to the front door to let his friends in.

* * *

An hour or so later, Taichi and his two friends were still in the living room playing video games; currently it was a fighting match between Taichi and Ken, so Daisuke was a bit bored, looking around aimlessly at his surroundings.

A small object between the crevice of the couch then caught his eye, and he automatically retrieved it. It was a tube of lube. He sniggered, "Hey Taichi, what's this for?"

Taichi glanced at the object in Daisuke's hand and groaned inwardly; Eito must've left it from his fuck with Yamato. "It's one of my brothers."

"I knew it!" Daisuke exclaimed. "I mean, five boys? At least one of you _had_ to be gay."

Taichi scoffed, "No one's gay. Lube is used for more than just gay sex, you know? Like jacking off? And besides, a guy and a girl can have anal sex too."

"Right, right," Daisuke replied, a joking twinkle in his eyes. Taichi shoved him good-naturedly.

"Five boys?" Ken asked. "I thought you only had three older brothers."

"I do," Taichi replied. "But I have a younger one as well."

Ken nodded. He had only known both Taichi and Daisuke for a year; they met their first year of high school. He'd been to Taichi's a few times before though, and had met his three older brothers at least once on different occasions, but he'd never met a younger one or heard Taichi mention him before. Strange.

"Here," Ken shoved his controller into Daisuke's hands. "You play. Taichi, if it's OK, can I go get a drink from your kitchen?" He was a bit thirsty.

"Yeah, sure," Taichi replied, turning his attention back to the game as he started a match with Daisuke.

"Thanks." Ken started down the hall towards the kitchen. As he got closer, he could hear that someone was in there, probably making dinner, considering the time.

"Hey," he greeted, turning into the kitchen, before stopping abruptly from seeing someone he did not expect.

Yamato, with an oblong pan filled with cooked lasagna in his hands, turned at the greeting – and dropped the food in surprise at Ken standing there. It took him a second to realise what he had done, before bending down to pick up the ruined food.

By this time Ken had walked towards him with the intent to help, though there was nothing much to do; there wasn't nothing much Yamato could do, either. The pan had fallen face first with the lasagna touching the floor; there weren't pieces to be picked up as the food stayed whole, so Yamato only had to lift the pan upright, setting it on the table.

Ken noted that he seemed terribly upset, eyes staring at the ruined lasagna as if begging for it to be OK. He placed a hand on Yamato's shoulder, which seemed to bring the younger teen out of his thoughts.

"It's OK," Ken said gently. "I can help you make another one. I'm sorry I surprised you; you surprised me too."

Yamato shook his head, looking like he was on the verge of tears. Ken was feeling a little worried; the other boy seemed too upset over something as small as food falling to the ground.

"Hey, it's OK," Ken repeated, trying to comfort the blond.

Then everyone else – Hideki, Toru, Eito, Taichi and Daisuke – seemed to file into the kitchen, apparently having heard the pan crashing to the ground. Ken dropped his hand from Yamato's shoulder.

Surveying the scene, Hideki was the first to speak. "Taichi, why don't you let your friends out? I'm sure they'd want to go home for dinner with their families." It wasn't really a request.

"Yeah, OK," Taichi replied. "Come on guys."

There was tension in the room that Ken and Daisuke were both confused and uncomfortable about, so they weren't going to argue with going home. Daisuke however noticed two dog bowls on the floor, and made a passing comment, "Hey, I didn't know you guys had a pet."

". . . We don't," Taichi replied, as Toru and Eito stifled their laughter. Daisuke looked like he was going to ask why they had two dog bowls then, but didn't as Taichi gave him a look and ushered him out of the kitchen.

"I'll see you later, Yamato," Ken said quietly to the blond, before turning to follow Taichi and Daisuke out of the kitchen.

As soon as he had seen his friends out, Taichi returned back to the kitchen, so his brothers knew all was clear.

Again, Hideki spoke first, "What happened?"

"I . . . dropped dinner," Yamato answered in a small voice.

"Clearly," Hideki growled. "Why did you drop dinner?"

"Tai–Taichi's friend showed up, and . . . I was surprised. I'm sorry. I'll make another one –"

"No. It's dinner time. We're hungry _now_."

". . . I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you are."

Hideki stepped forward, standing face to face with Yamato. They were the same height, and the tallest of the brothers, but the similarities ended there. Hideki was built like a truck; Yamato . . . not so much.

One punch and Yamato was on the ground. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. Toru joined in as Eito and Taichi watched on; Eito with a smirk, Taichi with no expression, whilst thinking, _he only ruined dinner_ . . .

They were done in a few short minutes. Yamato lay half curled up on the ground with blood trickling from his nose and mouth, and a gash on his forehead courtesy of Toru smashing his head into the edge of the table. Those were the visible damages; his clothes no doubt covered bruises all over his body.

"OK," Hideki began, turning to his standing brothers. "We're eating out. Go get your jackets or whatever." The other three disappeared.

Hideki turned back to Yamato and bent down, grabbing a fistful of his hair and yanking him up. Yamato hissed softly in pain and forced himself to stand up so that there would be less pressure at the roots of his hair. Hideki didn't let go, however.

"Clean the floor. And," Hideki pointed at the lasagna, "you better not eat that. Understood?"

"Yes," Yamato whispered. The sad thing was he was actually planning to consume it when his brothers had left; he figured he could scrape the top off and eat the rest, seeing as it was only the top that had hit the floor. But now . . .

The other three re-appeared with their jackets on, or in hand. Hideki let go of Yamato's hair. "OK, let's go."

When they had left, Yamato fell to the ground, crying quietly. "Stop it," he whispered to himself, as if saying it out loud would help. "Stop crying you weak piece of shit . . ."

After a few more moments he composed himself, and though he was aching badly from the beating he received moments before, he got up and picked up the lasagna and headed over to the trash can. He looked at it for a while, contemplating whether or not he should disobey Hideki and just have a little bit, before scraping it all into the bin in pieces. Well, that was it; no dinner two nights in a row.

_Why did I drop it . . . I knew Ken was Taichi's friend, so why did he surprise me? Stupid, stupid Yamato . . ._

He washed the dishes (from the morning; it was his duty every night after dinner to wash dishes) then cleaned the floor before finally going to his room to rest on his mattress. He felt so out of it, and soon, sleep consumed him.

* * *

Yamato was woken up unceremoniously by a hand lifting him up by his hair. Opening his eyes, he saw Hideki. Of course.

"Kitchen," Hideki said simply, letting go of Yamato and walking out of the room.

Yamato stumbled slowly out of the room and towards the kitchen. He wondered whether his brothers had taken pity on him and brought some of the food back home for him, but only for a split second, as that was extremely unlikely and the thought only got his hopes up; it was always tough when they came crashing back down – hard.

Reaching the kitchen, he saw that all four of his brothers were there, and he immediately noticed that there was no food out or anything. Crash.

"Kneel there," Hideki indicated where the lasagna had fallen. Confused, Yamato did as told. Hideki smirked. "I told you not to eat the lasagna."

"I-I didn't. I threw it all in the bin," Yamato replied.

"How can we be sure?" Hideki asked with an evil grin. Yamato's brow creased slightly. Hideki went on. "I'll tell you how – vomit up your food."

"W-what?" Yamato asked, perplexed. "H-how?"

"Don't be an idiot," Hideki retorted, then spoke as if speaking to a first-grader. "Stick two fingers down your throat and regurgitate."

Yamato continued to look at him with a confused, pleading expression. "B-but . . . I promise, I didn't eat the lasagna . . . you told me not to, and I wouldn't disobey you . . ."

"You're disobeying me right now," Hideki replied coldly. "And unless you want another beating, you're going to stick two fucking fingers down your goddamn throat."

Yamato paused a second before lifting two of his fingers to his mouth. His brothers laughed and he closed his eyes in shame as he forced his fingers down his throat. After a while, he could feel the urge to vomit, as Hideki then forcefully shoved his fingers harder down his throat, making him gag.

After a few minutes, Hideki seemed to be satisfied. Yamato had vomit on his chin, trailing down his hand, and in a small puddle on the floor. There were a few bits of visible corn, but not much else; it showed how little he had eaten in a while.

"OK, you were telling the truth," Hideki nodded in sarcastic approval. Yamato looked a bit ill from vomiting; his stomach and throat had gone through quite a bit. "You can clean your mess up now." Yamato staggered to his feet. "Wait. What are you doing?"

"Getting some cleaning supplies," Yamato croaked weakly.

"You can do that after you consume your mess."

Yamato blinked repeatedly in confusion as Toru and Eito smirked at each other. Taichi seemed to frown a little.

"Well, go on," Hideki said impatiently. "Consume."

"B-but –"

"But what? It's _your_ mess that _you_ made so it's only fair, right?" Three of the brothers sniggered.

Yamato looked at his vomit on the floor before looking back at Hideki with another pleading look. "Please, Hideki . . ."

"You know, I'm getting tired of all your prolonging speeches. You either do what I tell you to do immediately or you'll regret it." Hideki's voice was acid this time.

Slowly, Yamato kneeled back down before his vomit. The brothers looked on, three with expressions of amusement, one looking mildly disturbed. Yamato lowered his face to the floor and flicked his tongue out, licking up the bits of corn and other unknown remnants, mainly the watery essence of his vomit.

As he heard his brothers laugh, he tried to get his mind off the taste, off what he was doing, but couldn't stop the tears that fell. Soon his brothers noticed he was crying, and only laughed harder. When he had finished, he looked up and saw that Taichi was missing.

"Clean it up properly now," Hideki said, meaning with proper cleaning supplies. Turning out of the kitchen with Toru and Eito in tow, he let out a sarcastic, "Good night."

* * *

Taichi lay awake in bed; his mind kept thinking about his recent negative – no, _semi_-negative, he corrected – feelings in regards to how Yamato was treated. The thing was, he _shouldn't_ be having semi-negative feelings; Yamato _killed_ his mother, for gods sake. And yet . . .

Taichi sighed, turning his head to gaze at his brother's form on the mattress below across the room. The blond was sleeping on his stomach again, his head turned away from Taichi's direction. He still had on his school uniform; Yamato was supposed to use as little clothing as possible, to reduce the load of laundry, so he stayed in one outfit all day. Heck, during the weekend, he stayed in the clothes he wore on Friday, and didn't even bathe then apart from brushing his teeth, to save water.

Hideki had set a 'limit' on the amount of money their monthly water bill could be; if it reached or surpassed that limit, Yamato would get a major beating complete with brutal rape. Thus why Yamato only bathed on weekdays, when it was necessary; though he also knew that Toru or Eito ran the taps sometimes, took longer showers, and the like, just to see whether they'd surpass the limit or not and get Yamato into trouble. It worked, often.

Sometimes Taichi felt sorry for him. He admitted that. But he told himself he was only human so feeling sorry for Yamato didn't mean much of anything; he still _hated_ Yamato for what he did to their family.

But he remembered when things weren't so bad. Being four, five, six . . . back then, things weren't quite as extreme. Sure, Yamato got hit a lot by their father, but it was easier to accept that Yamato had indeed been 'bad' and deserved a punishment. Having three older brothers, Taichi had liked having a younger brother to push around; he had dragged Yamato with him everywhere, when he could.

He remembered having _fun_ with Yamato, and Yamato having fun with _him_. If he tried, he could picture Yamato laughing at four when he had accidentally broken Taichi's model aeroplane and found Taichi's anger to be hilarious; giggling at five as they played tag at the park; smiling at six when Taichi tried to teach him how to play soccer . . .

It seemed things got worse when Yamato was seven. The brothers all agreed that their father had probably started to sexually abuse him at that time; Taichi remembered Yamato not wanting to play with him anymore, withdrawing into himself . . . that's when Taichi had first started to hate Yamato.

Taichi gave a soft dry chuckle. He loved attention so when Yamato wasn't giving him any he started to resent him. The lines blurred and hatred evolved; he was just a kid, and his authority figures – his father and elder brothers – were acting as if it were OK to hurt Yamato, so in time, he had accepted that it _was_ OK. Apparently, Yamato had too.

Taichi could see Yamato trembling slightly; it was rather cold, and all the blond had were his clothes to keep him warm. He continued watching as Yamato subconsciously clutched his 'pillow' tighter; it was a stuffed animal Taichi had given to him for his fifth birthday. Well, actually, Taichi had picked it out for his own sixth birthday but had then given it to Yamato as a belated present, seeing as the younger hadn't been given anything for his birthday the previous month.

There was a time period of about a month where Taichi and Yamato were the same age; currently, both of them were sixteen years old. Yamato had turned that age a couple of weeks ago, and in another couple of weeks, Taichi would be turning seventeen.

Taichi expected a birthday bash, of course. Yamato had gotten a birthday bash, but in a different context. The three elder Yagamis had given him a beating for being born into existence on that day, just like they did every year.

Feeling a greater sense of pity than he usually did, Taichi got up from beneath his covers and out of bed, crouching down before Yamato's sleeping form. He gently rolled him over so that he was facing him, and proceeded to lift him up and into his bed. Yamato must've been really tired, Taichi noted, as being carried hadn't even woken him up. He got back into bed next to the blond, pulling the covers over them both.

At the moment, the two were facing each other, though whereas Taichi was wide awake, Yamato was sound asleep. Taichi traced Yamato's features with his eyes; he'd have looked really angelic if not for the damages Hideki and Toru had inflicted upon him earlier. Still, his face was more content than Taichi had ever seen in a long time when he was awake.

Suddenly, Yamato turned the other way, his back now facing Taichi. The brunet frowned slightly, disappointed that he could no longer stare at the blond's face – then wondered why the hell he was. Taichi closed his eyes and scolded himself, before re-opening them and staring at Yamato's back. Well, it was the only thing in his line of vision . . . unless he looked down.

Yamato was actually sleeping on his side, partially curled, so his arse was protruding outward . . . towards Taichi. The brunet's eyes kept glancing between the curve of Yamato's arse and his more innocent back. Eventually, though, Taichi's eyes were focussed solely downwards.

_What the fuck, Taichi?_ he berated himself. _You are not gay. You are not gay. You are not gay._ Somehow, he forced himself to think that this was an urge that Hideki, Toru and Eito – all straight – got. An urge to hurt, humiliate, rape. Yeah, that was it. This was it.

His eyes and mind roamed more freely now without restraint; he thought about what it'd feel like to spread those perfectly sculpted arse cheeks apart and shove his cock in real hard – through his pants – that Yamato would scream in pleasure –

No, pain. Pain. Of course pain. It was rape; he would cause Yamato pain, not pleasure. He _wanted_ to cause him pain, not pleasure. Pain. Of course. Not pleasure.

Taichi found himself reaching out and placing a hand in the middle of Yamato's arse, where his fingertips splayed across both arse cheeks. As if moving on its own accord, his hand started to gently rub the surrounding area, before his middle finger curved into the crevice of Yamato's arse and he felt the gentle muscle of his anus.

If he wanted to, he could fuck him. He _could_. He didn't need his permission; he could wake Yamato up right now and demand that the other boy take it up the arse right then and there, and Yamato would have obeyed. He wouldn't object. He wasn't allowed to. Taichi could fuck him freely. With that thought in mind, Taichi began circling his middle finger in small ministrations around Yamato's anus.

Yamato stirred a bit then, murmuring softly, "Daddy . . . please don't . . ."

Taichi withdrew his hand suddenly.

Yamato had slept with their father in his room often; Taichi could only assume that his massaging of his arse, plus the comfort of a bed he hadn't been used to since their father's death, had made Yamato's subconsciousness think about the times their father had raped him.

Taichi didn't _want_ to be their father . . .

He didn't _want_ to be mistaken for their father . . .

He _wanted_ to be Taichi, and he _wanted_ for Yamato to _want_ him to be Taichi, because he _wanted_ . . .

He _wanted_ . . .

Yamato.

_Oh shit._

* * *

**End of Chapter**

* * *

Sorry, I haven't edited this chapter, so you're stuck with it the way it is - and my brain stopped functioning, thus why the turning point for Taichi seems all over the place and not compact enough. :D More Kenato and Taito next chapter, I think.

Please leave a review if you'd like me to update faster than six months (chances are it'll be even longer) - there are quite a few alerts, and I'd love to hear from you (even if you log out and leave an anonymous review). :P

Disclaimer: A few ideas were taken from the book _A Child Called 'It' _by Dave Pelzer. I've only read the first chapter (if that) before being too disturbed to continue; largely because it was a true recount of child abuse. I'm OK with it in fiction because, well, it's fiction. Ideas that were used: eating from dog bowls, eating vomit . . . I guess you could say the fact that one child was targeted for abuse kind of 'inspired' this story. Anyhow, if you can stomach it, I do recommend the book . . . though I got too sad to continue myself. :p


	3. XY: Three

**Author's Note:** Wow, four weeks and an update! Because you guys are so freakin' awesome with your reviews. Thank you! Especially those who comment on the story and/or my actual writing. :)

I made this 'profile' of the brothers Yagami - with Taichi and Yamato included, of course. It has their 'photo' (I admit to stealing random models off the interweb!) and a blurb on their character; you'll gain more insight into the original characters than throughout the story, I think, because they're secondary characters - and though I will try to flesh them out, the profiles are there if I don't manage to. :P Their profiles are linked on my Profile page.

You can pretend the guys pictured are authentically them! I do. XD Except for Taichi and Yamato – I just chose their photos for their hair colour and physique. Doing the profiles actually helped me flesh out the brothers better in my mind – now to transfer some of that into future chapters . . .

OK, the usual **warning**! There is one scene that is more disturbing than the vomit scene . . . you might regret reading it, so do think carefully before going forward. Hint: Yamato consumes something worse than vomit. I debated about whether or not to put it in, and eventually decided in its favour . . .

* * *

**3. XY: Three**

* * *

Yamato instinctively woke up around 5 a.m. every day to make breakfast for his brothers, ready to be served to them by the time they woke up an hour later; he'd been doing it for years, and the habit was ingrained in his subconscious over time. Today was no different.

Despite being totally wiped out the previous night from getting beaten and being made to vomit, Yamato's eyes did not fail to open an hour before dawn. He blinked a few times in the semi-darkness, before bringing his hand up to routinely rub his eyes from morning sleep. Then he made to get up – and realised he didn't feel the usual combination of a hard floor beneath him, thinly veiled under a tatty mattress. Instead, he felt the comfort of soft fabric. Did he fall asleep on the living room couch?

He turned slightly and looked over his shoulder – and saw the sleeping form of his brother. No to the couch, then.

_What am I doing in Taichi's bed!? If he wakes up, he's gonna kill me . . ._

Yamato froze and thought about how he was going to get out of Taichi's bed without waking him up. If only he were on the opposite side, away from the wall, then he'd be able to get out easily – wait a minute. Yamato's features contorted in confusion; if he was on the side closest to the wall, then that must mean he either got in before Taichi, or Taichi had placed him there – either way . . .

Taichi must've known.

Still confused, Yamato felt a bit better about attempting to get out, though he still didn't want to wake Taichi up, for two reasons; one, it was 5 a.m. and Taichi wouldn't appreciate it, and two, he'd rather not have a confrontation with Taichi about the fact that he'd let him sleep in his bed, since awkward things like that usually led Taichi to do something mean to him later on to 'prove' that he hadn't meant a nice intent.

So with his eyes on Taichi the whole time, Yamato began to slowly and carefully slide downwards off the bed – because he sure as hell wasn't climbing over Taichi to get out. All in all, it took a full minute for his feet to reach the floor at the end of the bed, something that would otherwise have taken two seconds.

Sighing softly in relief to himself, Yamato quietly walked towards the door and creaked it open slowly before disappearing through it and closing it behind him.

Inside the room, Taichi's eyes opened.

* * *

Taichi sat picking at his food at the kitchen table as the three elder Yagamis sat on the other three sides eating the scrambled eggs Yamato had made. The blond himself was stood quietly to the side, staring at a patch on the floor, trying to ignore the alluring scent of food as best he could.

"OK, done?" Hideki asked, his eyes going around the table at his brothers.

Toru burped, receiving a playful punch in the arm by Eito. "Yeah, I am." The remaining two nodded as well.

Hideki stood up. "Alright, let's go." Toru and Eito followed Hideki's example, but Taichi stayed put. Hideki raised an eyebrow. "Taichi?"

"I think I'll walk to school today, so you guys can go without me," Taichi shrugged nonchalantly, trying to make it seem as though it wasn't a big deal. If Hideki was still there and hadn't left for work early, they usually all jumped on the idea of going by car.

"But, I'm driving . . . so you might as well come with," Hideki replied, eyebrow still raised.

"Yeah, but, soccer, you know," Taichi let out a lie. "Walking to school every now and then will keep me fit for it."

Eito sniggered, "I can't believe you still play that wimpy arse sport." Toru high-fived him, and Taichi shot them both a dirty look, but they merely grinned back at him.

". . . Well, OK. Make sure you don't get there late, though," Hideki relented.

Taichi rolled his eyes. "I won't."

Hideki nodded and walked out of the kitchen with Toru in tow. Eito glanced at Yamato, who was still looking at the floor, then gave Taichi a questioning look, which went ignored. Eito's curiosity was peaked further, unsure of whether Taichi was up to something or not, but as the two elder Yagamis were waiting for him, he said a quick good-bye and left the kitchen, but not before giving Taichi a narrowed look.

A short while later the front door was heard opening and closing, signally their departure. Taichi looked at Yamato, whose eyes were now off the floor and on the remaining food at the table, which wasn't much save for Taichi's plate. When Yamato saw that he'd been caught eyeing the food by Taichi, he blushed a little and lowered his eyes back to the floor.

"Take a seat," Taichi gestured at a seat on a side of the table adjacent to his. Yamato looked at Taichi, surprised; he hadn't been allowed to sit at the kitchen table since their father died. Taichi sighed impatiently. "Are you going to do what I tell you to do, or what?" Yamato promptly took a seat, though with uncertainty in his face.

Taichi pushed his plate in front of Yamato. "Eat." Still cautious, Yamato slowly went to pick up the remains of Taichi's eggs with his fingers, only to have Taichi knock his hand down. "No, use utensils."

This time Yamato didn't do immediately as told; Taichi was just acting too bizarre. Certainly, out of his brothers Taichi was by far the 'nicest' to him, but that had always been little things. Like instead of being _active_ in most of the beatings and rapes, he'd be _passive_, doing nothing or leaving the room entirely. And, as a whole, he also never gave Yamato the vibe that he well and truly hated him like the other three did.

But two nights ago Taichi had caught Yamato _disobeying_ the brothers; true, they never explicitly told Yamato he _couldn't_ turn the vibrator off, but that was sure as hell implied – and yet, Taichi had made up an excuse for him and had not told the others about the incident at all. Then last night Taichi had obviously let Yamato sleep in his bed with him, and it was highly likely the brunet had put the blond there himself, seeing as Yamato couldn't remember falling asleep on Taichi's bed, or fathom how or why he would, as he wasn't allowed to and would not blatantly break a rule.

Now Taichi had offered him a _seat_ at the kitchen table to eat off of _plates_ with the use of _utensils_ – something Yamato hadn't been allowed to do since their father died almost five years ago. Taichi was being odd indeed.

Yamato looked at Taichi with deeply curious eyes. Taichi shifted; he didn't like it, he felt uneasy under the blond's gaze, as though the other boy could read his mind and knew his innermost thoughts like his attraction to –

No. There was no attraction. Deny, deny, deny.

Taichi got up from his chair hastily, barking out, "Hurry up and eat, then shower fast. You better not make me late for school." Except, of course, Taichi could walk to school by himself if he wanted to; he really didn't need to wait for Yamato.

They both knew this.

* * *

"What do you want?" Taichi gestured at an array of food.

They were at the front of a store close by the school that he had veered Yamato inside. Actually, they'd had to walk back a few paces as Taichi had been contemplating during their entire walk to school, whether or not to go inside to buy Yamato some food, and had eventually decided against it before changing his mind again at the last minute. After all, he reasoned, Yamato had gone without dinner for two nights and only had a paltry amount of food at breakfast and lunch – if he'd even had any lunch, as Taichi was clueless.

Despite their mistreatment of Yamato, they still had to convey to the world that he was fine – that everything at home was fine. When their father had died and Hideki was granted title of guardian, there were a lot of regular visits from social workers in the first several months to see that things were going smoothly. For some reason, Yamato kept up the charade that he was fine, and never told anyone about how he was really treated.

That had dumbfounded the brothers for they were sure he'd rat on them; Hideki and Toru repeatedly threatened him if he told, since their tactic was to scare him into not telling. Still, everyone, Yamato included, knew that all he had to do was tell one of the social workers and he'd have been whisked away to safety. Taichi had always thought that was incredibly absurd (and stupid) of Yamato, and even now still wondered what the other boy was thinking at the time.

One of their top priorities was to make sure Yamato _looked_ healthy enough to the world. That meant they had to give him sufficient enough food to maintain the image of a reasonably normal looking teenage boy; having him stick-thin from starvation would have the authorities looking into them. They didn't want that, thus why Hideki gave Yamato a weekly food allowance; if they didn't have to worry about the authorities, Hideki would have given him nothing.

Of course, Yamato didn't know that his brothers made sure he got enough food in his system; they liked to make him suffer and so would regularly make him go without food for a few – or several – days before eventually letting him have some food again. Still, they gave him the minimum amount of food he required.

Taichi knew that Hideki would soon let Yamato eat a proper dinner, to balance out the last few nights without, but surely a few extras wouldn't hurt. Besides, if Yamato ate more food now, Hideki would surely see the effects of it and limit Yamato's intake later on, so it was all balanced out in the end anyway. Right?

Taichi nodded his head, satisfied with his own reasoning, then looked at Yamato. "Well? What do you want? Hurry up, you're gonna make me late for school." He still felt the need to use bravado, it seems.

At that prompt, Yamato's unsure eyes scanned the food in front of him, and eventually he pointed at some sweet buns. Taichi opened his mouth to tell the lady behind the counter, but then realised Yamato had picked the cheapest thing there, so he decided to add a few more on his behalf. "He'll have a sweet bun, a croissant, a chicken salad sandwich, and a cheese and ham sandwich, please." He'd have added more, but he didn't want to go overboard.

Yamato's eyebrows rose in panic – he didn't have enough money for all that. As the lady began packing the food into a paper bag, he took out his remaining money for the week and reached it out towards Taichi. "I'm sorry . . . I only have 200 yen. I'll give you more money next week when I get it." That would mean his entire allowance next week.

Taichi looked at the pitiful coins in Yamato's hand with a slightly raised eyebrow before pushing said hand away. "No. I'm paying. You can keep that." Yamato's face once again held a look of confusion, and Taichi turned away. Yamato's reactions were making it harder for Taichi to pretend that he wasn't doing something out of the ordinary.

_You're not_, Taichi told himself. _You're just giving him some food so he doesn't look like a skeleton and people won't think he's being neglected and abused._

Taichi paid for the food then handed it to Yamato and quicky stalked out of the store, as if to get away from the gesture. Yamato quickly stuffed the paper bag of food into his tatty school bag and followed his brother out of the store.

"Th-thanks . . ." Yamato sputtered, once he caught up with the brunet. Taichi ignored him, but slowed down his pace so that Yamato didn't have to take such long quick strides to stay beside him, seeing as his body probably ached from the beating he received the night before. Actually, he really should be resting at home . . . but well, that was never going to happen, not with Hideki in charge.

Taichi took a sideways glance at him, who was luckily staring down at the pavement as they walked. His bangs fortunately covered the gash on his forehead, but the side of his lips were still a bit cut and broken, and he had light bruises along his jaw line and cheek. It wasn't that bad, but it would still get some questioning looks. Taichi just hoped Yamato wasn't stupid enough to tell the truth if asked – for the blond's own sake.

In a short while they reached the school, finding Ken and Daisuke waiting around at the front gate. Taichi's eyebrows rose in surprise as they neared them, before greeting his friends. "Hey, shouldn't you guys be playing soccer on the field?" He'd never seen Ken or Daisuke hang out the front in the mornings before.

Daisuke shrugged at Taichi. "Ken was hanging around when I got here. Then he made me stay." He waited for Ken to retort that he hadn't made him stay, but that he voluntarily did so himself to annoy.

But Ken was gazing intently at Yamato. "What happened to your face?" Last evening was still fresh in his mind, with Yamato freaking over dropped lasagna, and the tension in the room that he and Daisuke had shortly thereafter left. But surely Yamato hadn't been _hit_ for dropping dinner last night . . .

"Um . . ." Yamato started, glancing uncertainly at Taichi, who offered no help – mainly because the brunet couldn't think of an excuse. He swallowed. "After dinner last night we – me and my brothers – we . . . fooled around. Roughhousing. And I fell . . . hitting my face on the table before landing on the floor – on my face."

Taichi thought that was actually pretty good. They were guys, and they roughhoused. There was nothing wrong with that. He was just worried that Yamato's delivery of the lie would give him away . . .

"Oh," Ken said, accepting the lie, more than glad that he could wipe away the thought that Yamato had been hit because of something stupid. Of course he hadn't, that would be absurd. He couldn't believe he even thought that was a possibility. "I see. Are you OK, though?" Yamato nodded with a small smile, appreciating the other boy's concern.

"Ouch," Daisuke remarked, rubbing his own face for emphasis. "I bet it was Taichi's fault, huh? He's so clumsy." Taichi gave him a dirty look.

Ken decided to change the subject, picking up on what Yamato had just said. "So, you're brothers?" Daisuke shot him a look, as he had told Ken they were when they left the Yagamis' apartment yesterday, but Ken promptly ignored him. It was better to question the source.

"_Half _brothers," Taichi answered. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Yamato's expression dampen slightly. Well, he guessed that could have hurt him, but he rather liked that they were _only_ half brothers. That would mean if something were to happen it would only be _half_ incestuous –

Wait. Wait, wait, wait. It wasn't going to be _anything_ incestuous because nothing was going to happen. He didn't _want_ anything to happen. Taichi mentally slapped himself upside the head.

Ken missed Yamato's hurt look and nodded his head as if Taichi had just been factual; which, well, he had. "Same mother, father?" he asked. Daisuke had just said 'yeah' when he had asked if Yamato was Taichi's brother, so this half sibling information was new to him.

"Father," Taichi replied.

Daisuke had known however, and he threw a teasing grin at Yamato. "That means he's packing something huge too." It was well-known in the soccer team that Taichi had a sizable penis since they all changed in the locker rooms together.

Frankly, Ken was surprised Daisuke had half a brain to decode that having the same father meant that their Y chromosomes – more specifically their SRY gene that encoded their TDF – came from the same source and thus would produce identical copies of male genitalia. Of course, Ken conceded, it was far more likely that Daisuke's reasoning had been less advanced, and he had just assumed that 'you got what your dad gave you' – which was a simpler way of putting it, but it was true, so Ken couldn't argue with that.

Oh, and the apparent fact that Yamato had a large member didn't deter Ken's attraction, either. Nope, not one bit.

The blond blushed a deep shade of red and Taichi gave Daisuke the finger. He _really_ didn't need to be thinking of Yamato's penis – and that went for himself and anyone else.

"What?" Daisuke exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.

Taichi paused before replying. "You sound like a fag, that's what." He really was just feeling possessive – for some reason. He shook the feeling off.

Ken had been looking from Yamato to Taichi in the meantime. "You two don't look alike. Actually, Yamato doesn't look like any of you." Taichi shrugged noncommittally, because he'd heard it before a few hundred times. Ken continued. "So, Yamato's younger, right? Just checking, because he's taller than you." He knew Yamato was a first-year and thus younger than Taichi, but he wanted to tease him.

Taichi gave him a light glare. It wasn't really an issue anymore, but it still irritated him sometimes. Yamato had surpassed him in height when they were ten and eleven, respectively – though the gap in height had been wider to start off with, slowly decreasing over the years as Taichi himself grew, until Yamato was only two inches taller.

But when it had first occurred, Taichi hadn't been a happy boy. He whined and moaned about his little brother being taller than him, which the elder Yagamis all found amusing, so after a while Toru suggested playfully to 'remedy' the situation – he had taken a hammer and smashed it into Yamato's ankle.

Taichi remembered a _lot_ of scary half-screams half-sobs emitting from the blond. Hideki had taken Yamato to the hospital where he stayed for about a week. As soon as Hideki had brought him home, the elder Yagamis had beaten him up for the extensive hospital bill – apparently it had been Yamato's fault he had to go to the hospital, and not Toru's.

Taichi had felt _so_ bad.

"Of course he's younger," Taichi snapped, just as the school bell rang. He looked at Ken then at Yamato. "Besides, he's taller than you too." He was indeed, but only by an inch.

"Yeah," Ken agreed with a smirk, "but I'm not his _big_ brother." Thank god – he wouldn't be able to date him otherwise.

"Whilst I'd like to join in on the battle of the heights – _not_ – I think we should get to class," Daisuke interrupted. He was of average height and by far the shortest of the four standing there; about five inches shorter than Yamato.

Yamato shifted awkwardly on his feet. He was feeling a bit weird in the circle, standing there and being acknowledged and included in the little 'chat' with Taichi and his friends. It was so strange to him because he'd never experienced it before, where people talking to him didn't look at him like he was an outcast, and though he liked it, it was still extremely new and uncomfortable for him so he made to get away.

"First-year classrooms are in the opposite direction to second-year classrooms, so . . . I'll – good-bye, Taichi, Ken, Daisuke," he said hesitantly, giving them a small wave and moving away from them uncertainly in case he'd gone without their permission and would be punished. But Ken and Daisuke said 'bye' to him in return with no malice, and they watched him disappear inside a building block.

"He's kind of weird," Daisuke remarked, as the three of them moved past the school gates and towards their own classrooms. "Like, formal, sort of . . . except . . . well, weird."

"I like him," Ken said, though he meant it in more ways than one.

"I didn't say I _didn't_ like him," Daisuke retorted. "I just said he was weird. He is. I rarely see him when I go over, he's always in his room or something. Being weird. And Taichi's not even protesting and he's his brother."

Ken pondered that, as it was similar to his own experience. Daisuke was closer to Taichi than he was, so he'd been over his apartment more times. The fact that even he found Yamato weird was strange . . . though perhaps he was reading too much into it? After all, they _were_ Taichi's friends, not Yamato's. It would be normal for the blond to not come outside and greet them.

"Protesting?" Taichi queried, sniggering. "Big word, Daisuke."

"Shut up."

* * *

Yamato was sat at his desk in his classroom at recess, since Eito had been annoyed at him yesterday for not being where he should be – he didn't want to be punished for it again. Thankfully, the girls in his class had figured out that he didn't really like their company as he was pretty unresponsive when they spoke to him, so they left him alone and only occasionally stole glances at him – though today, those glances weren't just of admiration, but of curiosity of the bruises on his face.

Yamato ignored their glances and bit into the chicken salad sandwich Taichi had bought him that morning; he was _very_ grateful and though he knew Taichi was being weird he wasn't complaining. He dug in and managed to eat half of it before Eito showed up – not going unnoticed by a lot of students in the classroom. There had been an assembly yesterday for the first day of school, and Eito had been introduced as the president of the student body council – plus he was captain of the baseball and football teams – so he was popular indeed.

A lot of the students were looking confused as Eito strode over to Yamato's desk – one of the most popular upperclassmen in the school was approaching a meek-mannered underclassmen? It was strange. But then some students realised that they had the same last name, and connected the dots; the confused looks turned to surprise.

Eito looked down at Yamato from his standing position, and lifted a curious eyebrow at the sandwich in his hands. He was a little surprised as sandwiches tended to be overpriced and he didn't think Yamato would buy one, but then shrugged it off as he figured the blond must be starving and desperate for good food or something. Anyhow, it required little thought over.

Yamato placed his half-eaten sandwich back into its plastic compartment and waited for Eito to talk; it was never good when Eito showed up, but maybe this once . . .

"Follow," was Eito's simple instruction, before he turned and started walking out of the classroom.

Yamato's heart fell as he got up quickly to do as told. They walked for several minutes in silence before they reached their destination. Eito had led him inside a vacant toilet block, save for a third-year boy who Yamato was unfortunately very familiar with.

The other boy was short in stature and, unless he miraculously grew since the last time Yamato had seen him a few months ago, had a rather unimpressive three and a half inch cock. But his arms were thick and defined, so he obviously tried to make up for his shortcomings.

"He wanted you yesterday," Eito spoke up, giving Yamato the reason as to why he was needed at lunch the previous day.

"I'm sorry, Ryu," Yamato said automatically to the black-haired teenager.

"You should be," Ryu grumbled in a deep voice. "It was your first day of high school and I wanted to make it _special_ for you." He and Eito exchanged chuckles, whilst Yamato thought having a pin dick up his arse wasn't exactly special, but he dared not say that out loud.

"Recess will be over soon," Eito said, holding his right hand out towards Ryu. The other boy dug into his pockets and placed four coins into Eito's open hand. He looked at them before scoffing, "Ryu, 310 yen? The normal rate is 5,000 yen for a blow job, 50,000 yen for a fuck. But, since you're a friend, I give you a special discounted rate of 1,000 yen for _anything goes_, and you offer me _310 yen_?"

"That's all I have, man!" Ryu exclaimed. "I blew through all my cash for new clothes and shit. Come on, we've been friends for ages. You can't let me fuck him this once for 310 yen?"

Eito speculated that it was roughly the cost of the sandwich Yamato had been eating. He looked at the blond who was unsurprisingly looking down at the ground. He knew his younger brother was probably feeling embarrassed and ashamed from being discussed as a sex toy to be rented out, and for such little cash no less. His lips curved into a smirk. "OK, but just this once."

"Thanks man," Ryu clapped him on the back.

Eito sniggered at the pitiful amount of money in his hand before shoving the coins into Yamato's pants pocket. "Here, you can have it. Buy yourself another sandwich." He was sarcastic and mocking.

Though it made Yamato ashamed that he was accepting 'rent' money – his own, no less – he still wanted it. "Thank you," he said quietly, with sincerity. Even though Eito hadn't intended it as a nice gesture – like perhaps Taichi had in the morning – Yamato was still very grateful for the money.

Eito just wore a smirk on his face and turned to go – before Ryu spoke up and stopped him.

"Hey wait man, can you lend me some lube?"

Eito turned back around, lifting a bemused eyebrow. "No. Can't you come prepared?" Then he frowned. "But you better have a condom." He wasn't going to let the idiot potentially transfer STDs to his younger brother – after all, he fucked him too. He needed him clean.

"Yeah, of course man, I have a condom," Ryu reassured him. "It's just lube that I don't have."

Eito shrugged. "Use spit. And be quick, 'cause you only have about ten minutes before recess ends." He smirked. "But I guess even two minutes would be sufficient enough time for you."

"Ha ha," Ryu said sarcastically, as Eito gave him a playful wave and walked out of the toilet block, closing the door shut behind him. Ryu turned to Yamato. "OK, get in there." He shoved the blond into a toilet cubicle and locked the door behind them, just as an extra precaution in case someone came into the toilet block.

"Get into position, baby," Ryu grinned widely. Alas, this wasn't the first time Ryu had raped Yamato in a toilet cubicle – he'd done it numerous times when he was a third-year in junior high and the blond was a first-year.

Yamato dutifully pulled his school pants down to his knees, spread his legs apart so they were on either side of the toilet bowel, and leaned over with his hands flat on the wall in front of him.

"Hideki still doesn't waste underwear on you I see," Ryu remarked, running his hand over Yamato's buttocks, before spreading his arse cheeks apart and spitting a string of saliva onto his exposed anus. He then sucked on two of his fingers, covering them in saliva, before sticking them into Yamato, right up to the knuckle. The blond squirmed a little, but not much. "Good boy."

Ryu retracted his fingers then reached into his pocket for his condom. As he ripped the packet open, his eyes wandered over Yamato's lower body for visual stimuli to gain an erection. His eyes caught sight of the blond's penis, very visibly hanging down between his thighs. A feeling of insecurity set in, as it sometimes did when he fucked the boy – the younger's cock was twice the size of his own cock. He decided he wasn't going to use his penis this time. The blond probably thought lowly of him because of his size – well, let's see what he thought of this. He sniggered.

"Say Yamato, have you ever been fisted?"

* * *

It was lunch and Yamato was sat quite still at his desk. After Ryu had his way with him he had folded up some tissue paper and placed it between his arse cheeks, using his arse muscles to clench it in place, as he had no underwear to do the job. His anus had bled just two days before, and a little more yesterday, thus it was vulnerable to more bleeding if provoked – and provoked it had been. Of course, his arse was hurting him quite a bit.

Now he was attempting to finish off his sandwich from recess, and would hopefully get to eat the other food Taichi had bought him that morning, without being disturbed. A few minutes in, and no such luck – a familiar figure made his way towards him, but this time, Yamato didn't mind.

Ken grabbed an empty chair and sat down opposite from Yamato so that they were facing each other. He smiled. "Mind if I join you?"

Yamato shook his head gently with a smile of his own. "No, of course not."

"Thanks," Ken grinned. "I wanted to find you at recess but I forgot to ask you what class you were in. Then of course after recess was over I figured that I could just go to the first-year classrooms, stick my head in, and look for you. And thus, here I am!"

Yamato looked a bit surprised that Ken would go out of his way just to find him. "You . . . you didn't have to waste your time –"

"Hey, I found you, it wasn't a waste," Ken cut in with a smile. "Besides, there's only six classes. It didn't take me long."

"No, I mean . . ." Yamato trailed. He didn't think he was worth finding. "You'd probably rather be playing soccer with Taichi . . ."

"If that were the case, I'd be on the soccer field instead of here, no?" Ken asked, amused. Yamato blushed faintly and lowered his head in shyness. Ken changed the subject. "So, 1-A, huh? You must be pretty smart. Certainly smarter than Taichi."

Yamato looked up, looking both cautiously flattered and mildly defensive. "Taichi's – he's . . . he's OK." He wanted to defend his brother without offending Ken.

Taichi was in class 2-C, so he was pretty average in regards to academic intellect – Hideki often made Yamato abandon his own homework to help Taichi with his. But it was really only maths that his older brother needed help with – Taichi sucked at it, Yamato excelled. And he didn't really mind helping him; at least during those sessions he had the chance to exchange sentences with someone, even if it only involved numbers and solutions. Being ignored for most of his life, except for taunts and insults, had made him lonely.

"Yeah, he is," Ken agreed with a smile, telling Yamato that he had been joking. "But you've done excellent to be placed in 1-A. You should be proud of yourself."

Yamato blushed. "I just pay attention in class . . ." And he did. Because his life at home was so dysfunctional, he would focus on his schoolwork when he could, to keep his mind off things he'd rather forget about. His studies were what little stability he could cling to.

"And you got rewarded. I'm in 2-A myself, so you'll be learning everything I did last year at the same pace. If you need any help at all, just ask, OK?" Ken certainly wanted him to ask.

Yamato nodded with a small smile. Much like yesterday afternoon, he wasn't as communicative as Ken was, so the older boy found himself carrying the conversation most of the time.

"So, Taichi's birthday is coming up, huh?" Ken asked, and Yamato nodded. "When's _your_ birthday?" He wouldn't mind getting him a gift if it was close.

"Two weeks ago . . ."

"Oh, happy belated birthday!" Ken exclaimed.

"Thanks . . ." Yamato smiled. His brothers hadn't bothered to say it to him on his birthday.

"You had a cake, right?"

Actually, he hadn't. Unless he counted the one he drew in the sand. His brothers had taken him to the beach that day, making it look as though they were there to celebrate his birthday – but they weren't. As soon as they got there, Hideki had told him to sit down on the edge of the beach and not to move. So while his older brothers threw a football around at a distance, pointedly excluding him, Yamato had sat alone for hours.

He outlined a simple cake in the sand, complete with the number '16' on top of it, and made a wish – then blew his sand-drawn cake and '16' candle away. Unfortunately, his wish didn't come true that day, as when it was getting late and the beach was vacant except for the brothers, they had beaten him up.

But Yamato found himself nodding, not wanting to reveal to Ken the truth. "Yes."

"What type was it?"

". . . Yellow." The colour of the sand. But he didn't like lying about something like this, so he turned the topic away from himself. "Are you coming to Taichi's birthday party?"

Well speak of the devil.

Taichi casually walked into the room, catching both the eyes of Yamato and Ken. He grabbed an empty chair and sat down at Yamato's desk, giving Ken a look of surprise. "Hey man, I wondered where you were. What are you doing here?"

"I was just talking to your brother," Ken answered, rather calmly for someone who was afraid to be caught out about having an attraction to a friend's younger brother. "He told me he hadn't made any new friends yet, and as he's your brother, I kind of feel obligated to be a friend to him, you know?"

Yamato's mind lingered at the word 'obligated'. He hoped that wasn't true. Ken had befriended him _before_ knowing he was Taichi's brother, so he had to be lying, right? But why would he lie . . .? He couldn't help feeling a little sad.

"That's very sweet of you, Ken," Taichi replied, mock sarcastic.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Ken retorted.

Taichi huffed, "He's my _brother_. I don't need a reason." Actually, coming to Yamato's classroom was rare indeed for him. Of course, Yamato knew this too.

"Did you want the food you bought this morning?" the blond supplied hesitantly, reaching down to grab his school bag. It was the only reason he could think of; perhaps Taichi decided he'd much rather _not_ give him the food.

But Taichi shook his head. "No, they're yours. Wait, haven't you eaten them yet?"

"I ate some . . . I haven't had time to eat them all," he replied. "But I will," he added, in case he seemed ungrateful. "I mean – if that's OK." Taichi just nodded his head.

Ken thought that exchange was a little odd, but didn't say anything. Yamato's character seemed to be getting clearer to him, though – he was very careful and hesitant of his words, like he didn't want to upset others. He definitely thought more about other people than he did himself, and though Ken liked that trait, he did wish the blond would give himself a little more credit.

"Actually," Ken began, "we were just talking about you. Well, your birthday. Yamato asked whether I was going. Am I invited?"

Taichi shrugged. "If you get me a present."

"Noted," Ken said wryly, as Taichi laughed with him.

"Actually, you know what would be an awesome present? If Tanaka got run over by a bus. That would make me fucking happy."

Taichi was talking about Tanaka Sho, a third-year student who had been recently named captain of the soccer team – but worse, he was also the starting centre forward. Taichi's chosen position. He and Sho had been fighting for the position all through last year, with the coach alternating between them in games. Now that a new year has started, it seemed the coach had chosen Sho permanently.

Ken gave him a sympathetic look. "He got first string 'cause he's a third-year. It'll be your turn next year."

"Yeah, I know," Taichi grumbled.

". . . But you have to admit, Taichi," Ken added, to be realistic, "he _is_ a little better than you."

Taichi shot him a look. He _wasn't_ going to admit that.

Yamato had been silent the whole time, but now spoke up. "Taichi was the best striker in elementary and junior high . . ."

Taichi was surprised – he didn't know Yamato even paid attention to his sporting achievements. He felt strangely flattered, which was odd indeed, as he never really let himself care about what Yamato thought of him before.

Ken gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, he bragged about it at the beginning of last year once or twice. Or a million times." Taichi shoved him playfully.

"Well, it's true . . ." Yamato didn't seem to be on the same wavelength as the other two, and kept defending his brother.

Ken nodded, to show Yamato that he believed him. "Yeah, I know. He really is good." He had said it for Yamato's sake, but Taichi gave him a playful fluttering of eyelashes. Ken shoved him.

Both boys stayed the whole of lunch with Yamato, doing most of the talking whilst Yamato ate his food and sometimes said a few words here and there. And though both boys seemed to be enjoying each other's company, they would have rather the other wasn't there.

* * *

Ken had managed to persuade Yamato to hang out with him again that afternoon at the mall. He had approached the blond shortly after school finished, and as Taichi was still held up talking to his other friends, he hadn't noticed them leaving school grounds together. Taichi had waited a while to walk home with Yamato before he realised he was gone. He had been a bit annoyed – not only of the fact that he'd waited around for nothing, but of the mere fact that he _had_ waited at all.

Inside the mall, Ken and Yamato were walking by a guitar shop, when Ken noticed that Yamato was looking at the instruments through the window with interest. But it didn't look like the blond was going to suggest they go in, as if he didn't want to waste Ken's time by doing something _he_ wanted, so Ken suggested it for him. "Hey, why don't we go inside?"

Yamato looked at him in surprise, nodded, and smiled. Ken always liked it when he smiled – it always made him smile in return.

The two entered the guitar shop and Yamato approached an acoustic guitar, Ken by his side. As Yamato examined the instrument, Ken looked at the price tag – 48,980 yen. He whistled internally; not being musically inclined, he had no idea guitars even got that pricey.

"Do you have a guitar?" Ken asked.

Yamato took his eyes away from the wooden instrument and looked at Ken. "No . . . they're too expensive . . ." He'd have to save up all his food money for two years before he could afford this particular guitar. That was impossible.

"So you don't know how to play?"

"I do . . . a little bit. I get to play in school during music. And I read books at the library to learn the chords . . ." He actually knew more than 'a little bit' – but it was in his nature to be modest.

"Can you sing?" Ken asked.

"I don't know . . ." Yamato blushed a little. "I've never sung in front of anyone else before . . . but I think I can . . . maybe just a little . . ."

Ken grinned. "Maybe you can sing in front of me sometime? I'll try not to be biassed. Or I _can_ be biassed, if that's what you want. Whichever you choose." Yamato gave him a shy smile.

A shop assistant approached them then, and asked if they were looking to buy something in particular.

"No, thank you, we're just looking," Yamato replied politely, and the shop assistant walked away.

But Ken was already thinking about asking his older brother for some money to purchase the guitar for Yamato. His rationality knew it was pretty forward and fast – he'd only met the blond _yesterday_, but the other boy was triggering urges within him to please as much as possible – to make him smile for longer periods than he seemed capable of. It was strange, he'd never felt like that before. He'd never bought anyone a gift worth even a quarter of what the guitar was worth. He just knew he wanted to buy Yamato this guitar. His birthday was only two weeks ago, so that was a good enough excuse, right?

"Is this your favourite?" Ken asked, in case there was another guitar that Yamato wanted. The blond nodded. So that was it – he was definitely going to purchase it, just not today. He wanted it to be a surprise, and he still needed to beg Osamu for money first. He didn't know whether or not to tell him it was for a _boy_, though . . .

* * *

When Yamato got home just before six he was 'greeted' by Toru, who was sat on the couch watching television, with boxes of pizza and bottles of alcohol on the coffee table in front of him.

"You're not cooking tonight. Hideki's working late with a new client, and Eito and Taichi are over their friends' places," Toru said with a sneering grin, because it meant Yamato wouldn't be having dinner for the third night in a row. What he didn't know was that Yamato himself was OK with it – Taichi had fed him breakfast, recess and lunch, and Ken had bought him an afternoon snack, so today had actually been one of his better days. Toru then swung his arm to indicate the floor in front to his right. "Sit down and do your homework."

Yamato did as told, dropping down to lie on his stomach as he took his homework out of his bag. For the next two hours Toru ignored him, eating pizza and drinking alcohol. It wasn't until Yamato was done doing all his homework and got to get up that Toru even seemed to realise he was still there.

"Where're you going?" Toru was drunk.

"To my room . . ." Yamato answered quietly. He didn't want to anger him in any way. "I've finished all my homework."

Toru sniggered, "Well give the boy a prize." Yamato didn't move, because he knew he didn't have permission to. Toru looked at the bottle of alcohol in his hand, then at Yamato. "D'you want some?"

Yamato shook his head. "No, I'm not allowed."

Toru snorted, "Are you fucking saying that you have more authority than me?" Again, Yamato shook his head. Toru stared at him for a few seconds before breaking out into a sneer. "D'you know what? I think I'll give ya some. I need to take a leak." He laughed but Yamato just looked confused – and worried.

"Take my dick out," Toru commanded, putting the bottle of alcohol down. Yamato kneeled down in front of him and did as told, unzipping his brother's pants and releasing his penis. He ducked his head down automatically to start sucking, but Toru grabbed his face first, clutching his jaw and forcing him to look at him. "This isn't a blow job. I'm gonna piss _sweet_ sweet alcohol down your throat, and you better drink it all, else I'll kill you." He let go of Yamato's jaw, who looked up at him, stunned.

And Toru slapped him. "Well, get to it, faggot!" He stared Yamato down, voice acid. "Do it, or I kill you."

Yamato didn't know whether or not it made a difference that Toru was drunk – he was sure the threat would hold account either way. And like their father, Toru was a violent drunk when others weren't co-operative with him. Hell, Toru was violent with him anyway.

So Yamato closed his eyes and took Toru's penis into his mouth. It didn't take long for a bitter liquid to gush out of his brother's urethra and into his mouth. His first instinct was to pull away, but Toru surprisingly predicted that, and held his head in place.

"Drink, because if any escape, you're dead."

At that repeated threat Yamato began swallowing despite his distaste and Toru let go of him, leaning back leisurely as he relieved himself into his younger brother's mouth. However, after only a few more seconds, Yamato had had enough – he pulled back, taking Toru by surprise, spilling some urine from his mouth, and making Toru pee on himself a little before he had time to shut his bladder down.

Before Toru could react, Yamato had dashed away and locked himself in the bathroom. It only took several seconds before Toru was knocking and kicking at the door, though.

"Open up you little shit! You are _so_ dead!"

Yamato sat in the bathtub, arms around his legs in a defensive position. He knew what he'd done was pretty much suicide, but he hoped the fact that Toru was drunk was in his favour – he'd never disobey a sober Toru, but a drunk Toru. Hopefully when his brother sobered up he'd see that, and Hideki and the others would too.

But then the door crashed open – Toru had managed to partially break the door off its hinges, enough to open it and barge through. His eyes landed on Yamato in the tub looking shit scared. Normally, Toru would've grinned menacingly, but not this time – he was actually fucking pissed off.

He advanced and there was no way for Yamato to make it out of the bathroom without trying to get past Toru – and as if he could. Toru would break every bone in his body. So the blond stayed where he was, and did the only thing he could – apologise, no matter how futile.

"I'm sorry," he said, shaken. "I'm _really_ sorry, Toru . . ."

But the elder ignored him, and reached past the blond's shoulder to – the tap? Indeed, cold water flooded around him, and slowly built up when Toru plugged up the bathtub. Yamato sat there shivering in the water, wondering what Toru was up to.

"I told you you're dead," Toru said coldly, as if reading his mind. Those words did not reassure the blond one bit, and in a panic – seeing as Toru was under the influence of alcohol – he sprung up in an attempt to get out of the bathtub and past his older brother.

No such luck.

Toru grabbed him immediately before he could step foot out of the tub, and flung him back down. He hit his head on the tap and sunk beneath the water, dazed. Toru's hands reached down and held him securely by the shoulders. The blond squirmed, to get out of his hold or just to get up, it didn't matter – he only found resistance in Toru's strong hold.

Yamato was larger than the bathtub so because he was lying down now instead of sitting up, his legs were sticking out of the tub, kicking frantically in the air as Toru continued to hold his upper body underneath the water. And because Yamato wasn't completely weak – he was a full grown adolescent – he did make a lot of splashes as he struggled against his much stronger elder brother.

But Toru's vice-like grip only tightened under the water, sure to leave marks and bruises. He had tried desperately to hold his breath, but now closed his eyes as he felt water go up his nose and into his lungs.

_I'm going to die . . ._

And then Taichi walked in on the scene. He paused at first, since he didn't know what was going on – Toru could be holding Yamato under the water for a few seconds in the usual act of bullying he was so keen on. But as he stood there and a few seconds turned into several long seconds, Taichi stepped towards Toru and tugged at his arm.

Toru hadn't noticed that he had company, mainly because his senses were dulled due to alcohol – he swung his arm back by natural reflex, hitting Taichi in the jaw. Taichi's yelp of pain caught his attention though, and he turned towards him, Yamato forgotten.

"Taichi," Toru began, surprised. His brow creased in worry, and he seemed to sober up – at least enough to realise that he'd hurt his younger brother. "I'm sorry. You OK?" Below him in the bathtub, Yamato was both choking on water and gasping for air now that Toru had released him.

"Yeah . . ." Taichi replied, rubbing his jaw. He knew his jaw would've been broken if Toru had intended a direct purposeful punch, but luckily it had just been a swat of instinct so there wasn't really any force behind it – but it still hurt, because Toru's arm was huge. Taichi's eyes were focussed on Yamato, but Toru's were still focussed on _him_.

"You sure? I can take you to the emergency room."

Taichi had always found it funny when Toru worried about him or Eito, or even Hideki. It just didn't seem to fit his look or personality, because he was so gruff and masculine. But he appreciated it all the same.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Taichi reassured him, before he hesitantly asked about what had happened with Yamato, who was shivering in the cold water, looking scared, exhausted and relieved all at once. "What were you doing?"

"Oh," Toru said dumbly, turning to look at Yamato before looking back at Taichi. He shrugged, carelessly. "I guess I almost killed him." Then he laughed. "Man, do you think Hideki would be pissed at me? Or would he be pleased, do you reckon?"

Taichi stared at him, stunned. Toru basically just told him that if he hadn't arrived home in time, Yamato would be dead. He didn't know how to react. He couldn't get _angry_ – wait, could he? If Toru had merely hurt Yamato he couldn't get angry because that reaction would've been strange, but Toru had almost _killed_ Yamato – surely the rules were different?

But before Taichi could open his mouth to tear Toru a new arsehole, Eito arrived looking surprised at the damaged door and flooded bathroom floor. He looked around at the three occupants then said, "Holy shit, Yamato's dead." Of course, he meant Yamato was going to be punished for whatever happened. Hideki certainly wasn't going to be pleased with the damage.

"_Almost_," Taichi gritted. "Toru tried to kill him."

"No shit?" Eito remarked, raising an eyebrow and looking over at the blond in the tub. "He looks alive to me." He and Toru sniggered.

Taichi narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, but he might not have been. Think about –" Taichi thought about how Hideki would react; he decided he _would_ be angry at Toru, but for different reasons, "– about what that would mean for _you_, Toru. You'd get hauled off to jail!"

Though Toru knew that was a valid possibility if something had happened, he wasn't going to be lectured by his younger brother. He snorted. "Well thank god you saved me in time, Taichi."

But Eito picked up on how upset Taichi actually seemed to be, and so naturally began to take the situation more seriously – at least to hear the other side of it before making a judgement. He turned to Toru. "What did you do exactly?"

Toru looked at Eito, and relented a little. "Held him under water. He locked himself in here to get away from me!"

Eito looked at the youngest, judgement apparently made. "Come on Yamato, you know better than that."

The blond spoke for the first time since the situation arose. "H-he was d-drunk, so I got s-scared . . ." The cold water was affecting his speech. Taichi wanted to tell him to get out of the bathtub, but the presence of the other two stopped him.

"So?" Eito said, unimpressed. "He's not allowed to get drunk? Stop being a fucking wimp. You're not allowed to lock doors. So you got yourself 'almost' killed, not Toru."

_That's not fair_, Taichi wanted to say, but held his tongue. "OK, let's just drop it," he said quietly instead. "I'll clean this up –"

"Why?" Toru asked, then pointed at Yamato. "Let him."

Taichi didn't answer right away. "I'm gonna give him a break just this once, OK? He almost died so I think he should be allowed to rest." He tugged at Yamato, giving him permission to get up and out of the cold water. Toru and Eito allowed it, but neither budged.

"Stop being so dramatic," Toru said.

"I'm not," Taichi replied, as he helped Yamato out of the tub and let the blond lean on him for support. "You're the one who almost killed him." Toru shook his head then left the bathroom, for which Taichi was glad.

Eito stayed however, giving Taichi a suspicious raise of an eyebrow. "You're acting weird, you know that, right?" Weird. A word usually reserved for Yamato.

"He almost died, OK," Taichi defended coldly, peeling Yamato's clothes off. It was a little difficult since the wet material clung to Yamato's skin, but luckily he only had three pieces of clothing, so soon he stood naked against Taichi. The brunet didn't know whether or not he liked seeing Yamato naked. The younger's body was covered with old faded bruises, along with redder more recent ones from yesterday – and today.

"Maybe it's karma," Eito said, looking Taichi directly in the eyes before turning to leave. He knew what Eito was getting at, of course – Yamato had killed their mother, so in turn . . .

"I-I can clean this up, Taichi . . ." Yamato spoke up, now that Toru and Eito were gone.

Taichi shook his head and surprised Yamato by lifting him up into his arms. Even though the blond was thin for his age, he was still quite heavy, but Taichi thought he should be able to carry his weight just down the hall to their room with no trouble. And that's exactly what he did.

"You s-should've let me d-dry off in the bathroom, T-Taichi . . ." Yamato spoke up quietly, as Taichi set him down on his feet. He was wetting the floor.

Taichi shut the door behind them and locked it in case, before going to his closet and getting a towel for the blond. Usually, Yamato had to dry off without the help of towels, so he was surprised when Taichi offered him one.

"T-thanks . . ." he took it slowly, and started to dry himself.

"Put some clothes on then lay down," Taichi instructed as he took the towel back. Yamato nodded and pulled out the school uniform meant for tomorrow as today's ones were wet on the bathroom floor. He'd just have to re-use them the next day.

Yamato pulled on his clothes and lay down on his mattress. Taichi opened his mouth, about to tell the blond to go sleep in his bed instead, but then he shut it as he realised he'd have to keep the door unlocked when he went outside, and that would mean one of his brothers might come in and see Yamato in his bed. Not a good idea.

So Taichi turned away instead, unlocked the door and went to clean the bathroom. He wasn't looking forward to it – he _rarely_ ever cleaned in his life, mainly because Yamato had done everything for him and the others. And now here he was, cleaning up for Yamato . . .

He really was getting weird.

Maybe Yamato was contagious.

* * *

**End of Chapter**

* * *

. . . So, initially, before I began typing this chapter up, I had it in my head that Taichi wasn't going to stop being mean to Yamato until the end of next chapter. And this is how it turned out. Yay me and my plans.

Writing this story makes me want to write a Yamachi. Or a Taito/Yamachi canon fic, except I don't have time. D: That's why I contemplated (still am, actually) adding a Yamachi lemon scene (obviously there will be several Taito ones as well as Kenato) in this story in a later chapter – but much later, because poor Yamato doesn't even have a backbone yet. :( But I know how some (most?) people are so 'stuck' on seme/uke roles, so I assume that'd cause an uproar. :P But I'm still contemplating. :P

. . . Why do my chapters get longer? :( This was such a doozy to write, I'll probably leave this story alone for a while. Yeah, and then some nice person will leave a quality review and I'm back to writing. Which is what happened last chapter, only I got more than one – and am very thankful! :)

Please review. :)


	4. XY: Four

**Author's Note:** I love you guys! Thank you once again for all the reviews, favourites and alerts! I'm glad my first venture into Taito is turning out all right. ;)

I apologise for taking over six months to finish this chapter; I just got caught back up in another interest of mine (which I actually first ditched to write this story). I honestly didn't think I'd go beyond the first chapter, though; I have a track record of mostly never doing so, and have only ever finished writing one story before. O_o So please keep the feedback coming; they matter a lot, not only because they're the only form of motivation I have to actually finish this story, but because they also help shape what I write. Please don't hesitate to give me your input if you want certain things to happen (or not to happen), because I do take them into consideration. ;)

For instance, I wasn't actually going to write the sexual abuse scene below (for better or for worse?), but instead was just going to have Taichi walk in on it from the get go. However, I've added it because _bigfan!_ wanted more sexual abuse. ^^; And _Kinky _commented that Taichi seems "almost submissive" – which is not my intention at all, because I don't view Taichi as submissive in any way, shape or form. I've tried to make him appear more dominant in this chapter; hopefully, I pulled it off. ^^;

Oh, and _jenna_ asked why I "made" Yamato "so tall". Well, because I wanted Taichi to be tall – at least six foot. And as Yamato is obviously around two inches taller than Taichi, he ends up being six two. From an official Japanese Digimon book, "_Digimon Adventure Character File_", regarding Yamato: '_He looks older than his age. His legs might be longer than Taichi's!?_'. If you ever get the chance to watch Digimon Adventure/02 in its original Japanese form, do so; Yamato comes off as being older/bigger than Taichi. (But obviously he's not in _this_ story, because I've made him Taichi's younger brother - and an abused child.)

It helps that Yamato's Japanese voice is deep and masculine (thus "booming" and gives you the impression that he's big), whilst Taichi's is pretty feminine (he's voiced by a female). I asked a friend of mine what she thought of Yamato's voice and she said "manly". Then I asked about Taichi's and she said "less manly". XD But that's the only remotely feminine thing I can say about Taichi – I do find it a little off-putting when people write him as feminine, because his character and personality are clearly very masculine. (But, needless to say, for this story I'm utilising Tai and Matt's English dub voices. :P)

Now that I've got all that out of the way, the **warning** for this chapter is **sexual abuse**, as mentioned above. Please skip to the next line break if it'll make you queasy. ^^;

* * *

**4. XY: Four**

* * *

Yamato's eyes would have glistened with tears had they been open; as it were, they were squeezed shut to stop the potential flow of such weak emotions. Sure, his older brother had almost drowned him – but so what? There was no need to cry about it. His whole life Toru had insulted him, beat him, raped him . . . it was to be expected, really. Besides, there had been one other time when his brothers had attempted to drown him – though they had claimed afterwards that they had only been 'playing around'.

It had been the weekend of his eighth birthday, and their father had taken them camping; it was one of only three times their father had actually remembered, or cared, to celebrate his birthday. There had been a lake nearby their campsite, and while their father took an afternoon nap, his brothers had decided to go explore; of course, he had naively tagged along, as he always did. That may have seemed weird, but like any kid, he idolised his elder brothers, despite their obvious dislike of him. He had always wanted to be included, to be one of them, hoping that eventually, they'd like him more – he'd just have to put up with potentially being hurt by them until then.

A little while after they'd arrived at the lake, his brothers had started jeering and taunting him about swimming. It wasn't the sport itself they were insulting, but his apparent skills and abilities in it; he'd been swimming in school for a year by then, having quickly emerged as a strong and natural swimmer. Swimming was one of the few things their father actually praised him on, making his brothers – Hideki and Toru in particular – bitter. They saw no reason for their father to be encouraging him about anything, and so mocking – and therefore downplaying – his triumphs was the usual thing for them to do; to belittle him about his accomplishments.

The insults had then escalated to Taichi pushing him into the lake, where his brothers then took turns dunking and holding him under, making him panic and regularly gasp for air, resulting in him accidentally swallowing and choking on water. The verbal abuse also continued, with taunts about how he was supposedly such a great swimmer, and yet was so close to drowning. When it came to Taichi's turn to dunk him, he had pleaded with him to stop and help him instead. That had made his brothers laugh – Taichi included.

Yamato remembered how hurt he had been by that. It had been less than a year since Taichi had started acting differently – at least towards him. The brunet's tongue had gotten sharper, his moods more sour, and his body language more aggressive. He had no idea why, and the few times he'd muster up the courage to ask, Taichi would either snap at him or shove him away. He had then speculated that maybe his brother knew what he was doing with their father, because despite the fact that their father had said it was their secret, Taichi had been so distant – so maybe he knew, and maybe he knew how . . . _wrong_ he felt about it. Wrong. Bad. _Dirty_.

Maybe Taichi didn't want anything to do with someone so dirty?

Up until the incident at the lake though, Taichi had never taken part in ganging up on him with the others, so during that small window of time, he at least had hope that Taichi would return to the way he was several months prior. But then, of course, the lake incident _had_ occurred, and not only was Taichi obviously partaking in physically bullying him with the others, but he was also the one to initiate it by pushing him into the lake in the first place. It was probably the first time he had realised that he'd lost his brother.

Taichi was one of _them_ now.

Yamato used his fingers to lessen the moisture in his eyes. He didn't want Taichi to know he'd been crying when he got back from cleaning the bathroom – his brother had always disliked it when he cried, always murmuring his disapproval, though he still comforted him regardless. It was the typical 'big boys don't cry' mantra, one that was often said to him by their father and elder brothers, and usually after they had hurt him. It had spoken volumes to him that Taichi had never said it after hurting him – because he never did; not like the others. That had separated Taichi from them in his mind at an early age, where he naturally trusted Taichi completely, clinging to him whenever he could and hiding behind him for protection. Taichi didn't seem to mind but rather seemed to like his attachment to him, and so since as far back as he could remember, Taichi had been his _brother_. And he missed him – his _real_ brother.

But that was a long time ago.

Taichi _now_ was . . . well, up until recently, he'd been like the others – as he had been for the last eight or nine years. But now all of a sudden he'd been . . . _nice_ to him. It felt weird and didn't sit right with him at all. Maybe Taichi was playing some sort of game to see how long he'd accept his kindness without protesting, as he should be? After all, he _deserved_ to be treated as below them – he really should reject Taichi's kindness, because if it did turn out to be some sort of trick, he was probably going to really get it from Taichi later on . . .

He suddenly felt the urge to go to the bathroom and insist on cleaning it. He really didn't want to play games; if Taichi was making up some elaborate plot to dupe him into thinking he was on _his_ side, only to turn around and laugh in his face then proceed to kick the living shit out of him – he didn't want that. He'd rather Taichi just hurt him straightforward like the others.

He sat up with the intent of going to the bathroom – but was stopped by the sound of the doorknob twisting. He looked towards the doorway in surprise, expecting Taichi, done from cleaning. Instead, two larger figures walked casually into the room, closing the door behind them: Toru and Eito – and one of them in particular did _not_ look happy.

His heart began to race faster out of fear. "I'm sorry –"

"No one gave you permission to talk," Toru spoke darkly, approaching the blond and grabbing a fistful of his hair. "Take your pants off, cunt." Toru yanked Yamato off of the mattress by his hair, letting go of him so that he could do as told. Yamato landed on his arse and ignored the fact he was being handled roughly, and began to obediently take his pants off.

Eito placed a tube of lube and two packets of condoms onto the floor beside the mattress, so that his hands could be free to take off his own lower confines. He pulled them off quickly, then laid down with his back on the mattress, before reaching his right hand down to his groin to pump his member to erection. Toru took his own pants and underwear off, and began mimicking Eito's hand movements on his own member. Looking at Yamato, he motioned his head towards the objects beside the mattress, then referenced Eito.

"Put a condom on him."

Yamato moved forward on his knees and picked up a condom packet, tearing it open carefully, before rolling it onto Eito's engorged flesh.

"Now me."

Still on his knees, Yamato grabbed the remaining condom and moved towards Toru, repeating the same actions on the elder's erect penis. He was a little confused; wasn't Toru wasting his time in gaining an erection now? His brother would only go flaccid in the time Eito was going to take to fuck him. Well, maybe Toru just wanted to be ready immediately after Eito was done.

"Lube us up. Eito first."

Yamato turned back to Eito, picking up the lube and opening the cap, smearing a generous amount of the substance onto Eito's condom-covered shaft; his brothers didn't enjoy it if there wasn't enough lube to cause enough slick action. The only time they didn't bother with lube was when their penises weren't involved, because then the intent was just to hurt him.

"OK, get on the Eito express train," Toru grinned.

Eito laughed, "You're so lame." He folded his arms leisurely behind his head, and waited for the blond to impale himself on his awaiting cock.

Yamato got up to place his legs on either side of Eito's waist, before squatting himself down so that his knees were folded and he was in a stable position for what was to come. Since he was facing Eito he could feel his eyes on him, but he didn't make eye contact; despite being used to the rapes, he still felt embarrassed by it all.

Placing his left palm onto the ground to hold himself steady, Yamato used his right hand to hold Eito's penis and aim it correctly at his entrance. When he was satisfied, he made a bowel movement as he always did, and slowly sunk his brother's cock into his arse, until it was fully engulfed to the balls. Eito's fully matured eight inch cock would have taken the average person more time and difficulty to ease in, but Yamato had been experienced with the size since he was about ten, when their father had conceded that he had been old enough to take him in fully. Of course, their father had died a year later, but Hideki and Toru were always there in his place to remind Yamato's anus of what it was supposed to be able to take on a regular basis.

"Now lube me up," Toru said, moving to stand before Yamato at Eito's side.

That command surprised the blond as he was just about to start moving to pleasure Eito, but as before, he did as Toru told him. So with Eito motionless and still balls-deep within him, Yamato picked up the tube of lube he'd left on the floor and turned his upper body slightly towards Toru to lube him up.

Once done, he began to ride Eito in the upright kneeled position he was in – but was quickly stopped when Toru pushed him low and forward, so that his chest was mere centimetres away from Eito's face. When Yamato felt Toru's erection press against his arse, he realised what they were trying – no, _going_ – to do.

_They're gonna double-dick me, oh god . . ._

Toru held onto Yamato's hips as he tried to stick his dick in next to Eito's by simply trying to ram it in, but after a few unsuccessful attempts it was clear he needed the help of fingers, at least, and so stopped – but like hell he was going to stick his own fingers up Yamato's dirty little arse. In actuality though, Yamato's was cleaner than most, seeing as how they forced him to have an enema at least once a day to keep clean for 'customers'.

"Lube your fingers up cunt, so you can widen yourself for me. And hurry it up before Eito and I go limp," Toru directed at Yamato in annoyance.

Yamato, cheeks stained red, reluctantly reached his hand down to grab the lube and quickly squeezed some of the substance onto two of his fingers. Using his left hand to support himself from falling on top of Eito, he brought his right hand back around his buttocks and pushed the lubed fingers into his anus alongside Eito's penis, being careful not to injure his brother's anatomy in any way. Once in, he curled his fingers and lifted them at an angle to create a gap for Toru to shove his cock in.

"Wider," Toru commanded bluntly.

Yamato breathed deeply and pushed his fingers in even further for more leverage, then scissored them apart to further widen the gap, and repeated his lift of his fingers at an angle, this time creating a bigger gap – but at the expense of feeling more pain as the already torn muscles of his anus tore further, making small inklings of blood appear around the surface rim.

Toru of course took no notice and manoeuvred the head of his penis towards the opening. It took further shoving and prodding on his part, as well as some jiggling of Yamato's hand, but he finally got in – his head, at least. He pulled Yamato's fingers out, tossing his hand aside, before shoving eight inches deep with one thrust.

Yamato gritted his teeth but couldn't hold back the noise that seemed to rumble in the back of his throat. His mind was screaming, '_Out, out, OUT'_, but obviously he wasn't going to get his way. It wasn't the length that hurt the most, because he'd had longer dildos and vibrators shoved in before, but the circumference of both his brothers' large dicks at the same time stretched his anal walls further than he ever wanted them stretched – especially considering what his anus had been subjected to the last few days.

And then Toru and Eito began to thrust, causing pain to spread further throughout his body. Though the brothers were thrusting in time with each other, they were doing so at different angles, thus hitting different spots within him at the same time where it wasn't previously possible with just one penis, giving Yamato the sensation of being split apart from within with every thrust. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on something other than the pain and humiliation.

"Feel good?" Eito chuckled from below him in obvious sarcasm. His light tone emphasised the difference between the two full brothers and Yamato in the current situation; the latter was in pain, the former were not.

"Of course," Toru answered for Yamato with a snigger. "He loves being a whore, don't you, whore-boy?"

Yamato didn't want to enjoy it because it _hurt_. But as they progressed, the pleasure from the alternating friction to his prostate kept growing, eventually making him begin to pre-cum. He reached his hand down to secure his cock so that he wouldn't leak onto Eito.

"His dick loves it," Eito said with a smirk, having glanced at Yamato's erection.

"And so does his arse," Toru mirrored his smirk from the other end. "It's like a fucking balloon. You know when you stretch it open and stick things in, and it just wraps around whatever like a suction? His arse is totally wrapped around our cocks."

"Yeah?" Eito grinned. "Didn't you say he didn't have an arse? I thought you were gonna call it a pussy from now on."

Toru laughed. "Oh yeah. Man, his pussy is the ugliest I've seen. He should feel lucky, 'cause there are tonnes of pussies out there who would love to have two _fucking _hot brothers banging them at the same time." Eito laughed along with him.

Yamato forced himself to ignore their degrading banter and concentrated on controlling the motions of his hips to try and make them feel good enough to pull out. He always wanted these 'sessions' to end sooner rather than later, and the sooner they ended depended on how fast his brothers got close to orgasm, so that they could then pull out and make him finish them off orally. Neither of the two had ever reached orgasm by penetrating anally alone; the most they did was pre-cum in their condoms.

Thrust after thrust Yamato moved in time with Toru behind him, gripping his leaking cock away from Eito and close to his abdomen, unfortunately getting some of his seed onto his shirt. Eito was thrusting too, but his thrusts were limited due to his position, so Toru controlled most of the movements; which was fine, because Eito still felt Yamato wrapped tightly around him, forced to move with every one of the elder's thrusts.

Soon, the two brothers were almost ready to pull out for some good oral – when the bedroom door opened, and the youngest brunet Yagami stood in the doorway. Eito could see Taichi from his position facing the door, but Toru had to turn his head to see who it was. He didn't stop thrusting, however.

Taichi took in the unexpected view before him with disbelieving eyes, slowly looking over the scene, before making eye contact with Eito, and then Toru. He closed his eyes in an attempt to calm down before he made an outburst he'd regret.

_One. Two. Three – Fuck it._

"What the _fuck_!?"

"What?" Toru asked, unfazed by the younger's obvious anger.

Taichi stalked into the room and glared at his older brothers. "Get. _Off_. Him." Up close, he could see just how wide Yamato's anus was spread to accommodate two large cocks. That had to _hurt_. It only angered him more, and he clenched his fists instinctively.

"We're just about to," Toru replied in a bored tone, "so calm down and wait your turn."

Taichi's eyes flashed. "I'm not _fucking_ waiting my turn! Get _off_ him. You almost fucking killed him and then you decide that wasn't enough!? You go behind my fucking back –"

"Maybe we wouldn't of had the chance to go behind your fucking back if you'd been in here in the first place, instead of cleaning the mess the little shit made? So the blame's on you, you little arsewipe," Toru retorted coldly – who the fuck did Taichi think he was, yelling at him like that?

Luckily, Eito was a little less insensitive, usually being able to tell when Taichi was genuinely upset about something – though in this particular instance, it was blatantly obvious. He propped himself up on his elbows. "C'mon Toru, slide out so I can get out. We're going soft anyway."

Toru looked at Eito silently for a few seconds, before shaking his head and doing as instructed. It wasn't because he did everything Eito told him to do – far from it – but because Eito was smart and levelheaded and always seemed to look at things objectively. Most of the time, anyway.

Eito pushed Yamato _gently_ off of him to the side – for Taichi's sake. Yamato appreciated the relief off his anus, but knew the events unfolding weren't going to be in his favour. He stared silently at the floor, not daring to look elsewhere. He felt bewildered and awkward by Taichi's outburst, and wanted to disappear – his brothers were arguing, and it was _his_ fault. Past experience taught him that he was the one who was going to be hurt by the end of this.

"Happy?" Toru said sarcastically as he stood up and took his lightly soiled condom off, before throwing it at Yamato, who flinched a little in surprise.

Taichi didn't like that but refrained from commenting. "I'd be happier if you got the fuck out of my room," he replied coldly instead. Toru intimidated a lot of people, and most wouldn't dare talk to him like that, but he wasn't scared of him; mainly because they were brothers, so he knew Toru would never _really_ beat him up or anything.

Eito didn't know whether it was because he was the middle child or what, but he always seemed to be the one to try to break things up – but then, that could be because Toru and Taichi were constantly at each other's throats; ironic, seeing as the two were the most similar in personality. "Come on, guys. Everything's cool, OK?" Eito pulled his condom off and grabbed some tissues, wiping some pre-cum off his penis before putting his pants and underwear back on.

"He's not," Toru jerked his head at Taichi. He grabbed a few tissues from Eito and wiped his dick clean, before repeating his prior actions of throwing them at Yamato. "It's like he's fucking . . . _worried_ about the cunt's welfare or some shit. So I almost killed him – so fucking what? We'd bury the fucker and forget he ever existed." He bent down to pick up his own pants and underwear to pull on.

Yamato knew his brothers didn't care about him, but it still hurt every time one of them actually said it. He'd tried to numb himself from their insults throughout the years, but to little success; their words continued to hurt him and _sometimes_ he'd feel angry towards them – but then would quickly chide himself and apologise to them in his head, because he knew he had absolutely no right to feel any ill will towards them.

Taichi paused as what Toru said sunk in, but then he shook his head, "This isn't about Yamato." _Yes it is._ "It's about you guys disrespecting me –"

"What the fuck?" Toru snorted. "Since when do you say shit like '_disrespecting_'?"

"Did you not listen to me at all in the bathroom?" Taichi chose to ignore him. "You would've been sent to jail, you fucking dumbarse."

At that, Toru took a step towards Taichi so that they were face to face, save for a slight height difference, with barely a few centimetres separating them. "Stop _fucking_ cussing at me," the elder hissed hypocritically.

"What's your problem?" Taichi gritted back. "All Yamato did was lock the fucking door on your drunk arse and you try to fucking kill him? You're a fucking idiot."

Eito decided to cut in because Toru looked as though he was going to strike their younger brother any minute now. "It wasn't just that, Taichi," he started, having heard the entire story from Toru earlier after they'd left Taichi and Yamato in the bathroom. "Yamato was supposed to drink Toru's urine and –"

"What!?" Taichi exclaimed incredulously, feeling his anger rise. How the fuck could Eito say that so casually? He turned his shocked gaze away from Eito and glared at Toru, feeling the urge to punch him in the face. "What the fuck is wrong with you? I think running away from you was the least he could have done. If it were me, I would have bitten your dick off."

Toru gave him the finger. "Whatever. The faggot disobeyed me –"

"So you tried to kill him because he didn't want to drink your foul piss?" Taichi said sardonically.

"Says you," Toru scoffed. "Look, I held the cunt under water for a while, big deal. I was gonna let him up sooner or later. Probably."

"Yeah," Taichi remarked dryly, nodding his head, "after he'd _died_."

Toru shrugged nonchalantly, a whisper of a smile on his lips. "Oh well?"

Taichi's eyes narrowed into slits. "And after all that, you still come in here to shove your fucking pricks up his fucking arse at the same fucking time."

To that, Toru gave a smug smile. "It's not our fault we actually fit – not our fault his pussy's so huge." Eito stifled a laugh at Toru's use of his new dubbing of Yamato's arse.

Taichi wasn't so amused. "Yes it fucking is your fault. And he doesn't have a fucking vagina –"

"Oh, I don't know, I think you'll find that he's on his period right now," Toru smirked at his own reference to Yamato's bleeding.

Taichi _really_ had to resist the urge to punch him. "That's your fucking fault too," he gritted. "You've been fucking him forever –"

"I wasn't the one who stuck a huge vibrator up his pussy on Sunday," Toru remarked casually.

_Stop calling it that_, Taichi thought coldly. But he had to concede that Toru was right; he _was_ the one who had shoved that thing up Yamato's arse and caused his first bleeding of the week. Fuck he regretted doing it now . . . but still, what he said held up. His older brothers, father, and all Yamato's 'customers' were responsible for stretching the blond's anus to accommodate a variety of sizes over the years. Only, he really shouldn't complain about that to his brothers. It wasn't like he'd been against it before . . . right?

Toru took Taichi's prolonged silence as a victory, and he broke out into a smirk. "I believe Yamato's supposed to suck me and Eito off now, so if you have a problem with that, you may leave."

That snapped Taichi out of his thoughts, and he gave his brother a 'you must be fucking kidding me' look. "_You_ may fucking leave _my_ fucking room."

Before Toru could fling something back or get physical, Eito – always the mediator – stepped in between them, effectively separating the two. "Come on guys, cut it out. I mean – you're fighting because of that thing over there," he pointed at Yamato, whose eyes were still on the floor, "so relax. He's not worth arguing over. He probably thinks it's funny that you two are fighting because of him. So let's just forget this, OK? C'mon, we're brothers."

_Yamato's our brother, too_, Taichi thought bitterly – surprising himself. He also didn't like Eito referring to Yamato as 'that thing', but he let it slide; it wasn't like he could protest about it, anyway. Besides, Eito was trying to help. He nodded his head slowly. "Fine –"

"What the hell happened to the bathroom door?"

Hideki had finally arrived home.

* * *

Taichi lay in his bed staring up at the ceiling whilst his mind wandered. He had his economics homework laid out on his stomach, with the intent of doing it as a distraction (plus he had to get it done, anyway), but all he could think about was Yamato. The blond was no doubt being hurt by the others, but rather than be there to watch, he had decided to sit it out; he didn't think he could handle feeling any more frustrated. Hideki arriving had felt like all the odds were stacked up against him; arguing with Toru was one thing, but arguing with Hideki was another thing entirely – you just didn't _do_ it, especially over Yamato.

He respected Hideki a lot; they all did – it was hard not to. Hideki had practically raised them, and had certainly been more of a father to them than their own crazy father had been. When their father had been fired from his job due to his increasing incompetence, Hideki had to go out and find one – a shitty little paper route to pay the bills at first, and then numerous other little jobs to keep the family afloat. At the same time, he'd also had to look after them _and _study hard throughout school to get into college so that he could get a decent job; as it were, he ended up as a personal trainer at a gym where he had mostly female clients who paid him 7,500 yen an hour. Needless to say, their eldest brother had done well for them.

His only fault was treating Yamato like shit – something that Taichi hadn't even really considered a fault a few days ago.

Hideki had been _pissed off_ when he was told about the events of the night. It wasn't surprising, but Taichi at least thought he'd be a little angrier at Toru, too. However, Hideki had completely exploded at Yamato, who had looked so frightened that Taichi had almost instinctively stepped in. Almost. Luckily, Eito had stepped in instead; he had no idea why, until Eito went on about how they'd just beaten Yamato up yesterday so Hideki had to calm the fuck down before he fucked up Yamato's face in a rage of fury that the blond would be out of school for a while – not a smart thing for them to let happen, seeing as school had just started and an extended absence would look suspicious.

But they still took Yamato to beat him up anyway – just in a more calm, in control manner.

God he hated the smug look Toru gave him as they left the room. He didn't agree with hurting Yamato, but what the fuck could he do? Nothing. Oh, well, he could tell his brothers that he _kind_ of, _might_ of, have feelings for their younger brother.

Yeah, _that'll_ go well.

He thumped his head back against his pillow. Did he have feelings for Yamato? Fuck that was just . . . _what_ was it?

Besides incestuous, that is.

Taichi rolled his eyes at himself. But sarcastic was far from what he was feeling – it was more like . . . depressed. What the fuck was wrong with him? Did he just fucking admit to . . . _liking_ his little brother?

No, maybe he just needed to go out more, see other guys –

Girls.

Girls, girls, girls, _girls_, damnit.

He liked girls, didn't he?

He dated Mariko in junior high. She was fucking _hot_; a freakin' cheerleader who most guys would've loved to have hang off their arm. He had only gone out with her for a couple of months, but in that time she _had_ tried to have sex with him – only he had choked.

_Fuck_.

He thumped his head again.

Maybe – maybe there was a _slight_ possibility that he was gay. _Maybe_. But he definitely did _not_ like Yamato – because that was just _wrong_. He was just . . . feeling protective? But the last time he felt protective of Yamato was . . . well, like, eight? That didn't make sense. Why was he suddenly feeling so protective of Yamato _now_? Fuck that – he _shouldn't_ be feeling protective of Yamato, period. So – so that can't be the fucking answer. No, it _had_ to be something else. The gay issue?

He thumped his head again.

Fuck Yamato because he had bigger things to worry about. It was easy to gloss over and say that hey, yeah, maybe he _was_ gay – but to actually _think_ about it? Shit. Did he like – _fuck_ – did he like . . . _cock_? But since when, _damnit_?

_Since you started thinking about banging your little brother through the floor._

Multiple thumps, this time.

_Stop thinking about Yamato, damnit._

OK, so – so . . . he was gay. _Maybe_. And because he was gay – _maybe_ – he started to want to . . . have some arse? Shit that sounded weird. If he _was_ gay, why did that sound weird? Maybe . . . he _wanted_ it to sound weird? Fuck.

But what the fuck was wrong with being gay, anyway? He was still more masculine than most guys he knew. That was _fact_. Being gay didn't make him a fucking pansy like his brothers seem to think all gays were – right? Because he didn't fit into those stereotypes; fuck, people probably thought Eito was more inclined to be gay than he was, and Eito screwed more girls than Hideki and Toru did combined.

It was . . . _OK_ to be gay, wasn't it? It didn't change who he was; he was still the guy everyone followed, still the guy the girls in his grade most wanted to fuck – still the absolute _shit_, damnit. He was Yagami Taichi for fuck's sake – king of the whole fucking second-year.

He just happened to like cock – no big deal.

_. . . Yes it is_.

Fuck. He'd almost talked himself up to it. But . . . well – he didn't _want_ to be gay. He didn't want his brothers to look down on him, which they _fucking_ would if he came out – oh shit. He was already talking about coming out? It made it so fucking _real_, this . . . liking cock stuff. Fuck.

Maybe it was Yamato.

Yeah, maybe it was Yamato – prancing around showing his arse and shit. Yamato was _available_ – he was a _free fuck_, damnit. He didn't have to be gay – or have to _like_ a person in question – to want to screw an available arse, right? Yamato was just _there_, and as he was an almost seventeen year old who was still a fucking virgin – a fact his elder brothers found amusing to no end – it was entirely possible that he was just freakin' horny and wanted to get laid, regardless of gender or . . . blood ties. Entirely _fucking _possible.

But then why had he gone to Yamato's classroom at lunch today?

His gay self-debate was put on hold however when his bedroom door opened, gaining his attention; not surprisingly, it was Yamato – also not surprisingly, he had his eyes fixed downwards as he shuffled inside quietly and made to close the door behind him. A week ago he would've sneered at the blond and mockingly ask what was so fascinating about his feet and/or the floor.

"Lock the door," Taichi found himself saying this time, though in a rougher tone than he'd intended. He guessed he was just used to talking to Yamato like that.

Yamato's defeated eyes flicked onto Taichi briefly, giving him a small nod, before doing as told. Taichi could tell he'd been crying. The blond then walked, slowly and rather hunched, towards his mattress, before laying down on it on his stomach and turning his face away from Taichi.

Taichi sat in his bed just looking at him. It was odd how he could be defending Yamato one moment and then be at a total loss as to how to act when the two of them were alone together. But, well, how _was_ he supposed to act? He didn't know. He just knew he didn't like the way Yamato was treated – or how they made him cry . . .

The bedside lamp was the only source of light in the room, dully illuminating across both of them. Taichi figured that as soon as he turned the lamp off, Yamato would probably start crying under the cover of darkness. The blond cried himself to sleep a few nights every week, at least, only Taichi had never let himself care much before. Heck, he had even yelled at Yamato on numerous occasions for crying too loud that he was keeping him up; one time had been after Toru and a bunch of his college friends had gang raped him – and then he had to go and add salt to the wounds . . .

Taichi wanted to make it up to him. There were _a lot_ of things he wanted to make up for, even if he couldn't (or refused to) make sense of what or why he was feeling like Yamato actually _meant_ something to him. He hesitated, ". . . Yamato?"

Silence.

And then, ". . . Yes?"

His voice sounded scared – and for some reason Taichi felt a little hurt by that. Did Yamato think he was going to hurt him, even after tonight?

"Come sleep in here with me."

"Wh-y . . ." Yamato started to say, but then stopped – questioning Taichi was wrong. "I . . . are – are you sure?"

"Yes."

Slowly, Yamato got up. Taichi grabbed his homework and pen and got up to let Yamato in, whose red-rimmed eyes looked at him with gratitude and wonderment.

"Thanks, Taichi . . ." Yamato said softly as he got into Taichi's bed and moved towards the wall, pulling the covers up around himself. "Really . . . thanks . . ." He was astonished that Taichi was _still_ being nice to him, but he didn't know how to thank him, other than to say the word.

Well, he could . . . _pleasure_ him, but Taichi had never seemed all that interested in that sort of stuff. After all, his brother would just fuck him if he wanted to, right? So he must not want that – and maybe even . . . didn't want anything at all? He felt bad for thinking earlier that maybe Taichi was up to something – especially after he had _argued_ with Toru for him. Well, maybe it wasn't actually _for_ him, but close enough. And though he appreciated Taichi's recent kindness, he figured it'll fade soon enough. He'd been thinking about it a lot and had come to the conclusion that his brother probably felt guilty about the vibrator thing. He wanted to tell Taichi that he didn't hold that against him, but, well . . . selfishly, he liked having Taichi being nice to him – it certainly beat the other three _not_ being nice to him.

Taichi got back into his bed but didn't reply to Yamato's expression of gratitude, because 'You're welcome' seemed stupid to say. Like, 'You're welcome, even though you really should have your own bed instead of sleeping on the fucking floor like a dog'. Stupid – though it could be worse. Hideki was going to make Yamato sleep on the tiled floor of the tiny laundry room had he not told him that he was fine with Yamato staying; the blond really must miss the days their father was alive.

When they were little they had separate beds, but a lot of the time Yamato would sleep in their father's room. And on nights when he didn't, instead of sleeping in his own bed, he would sleep with Taichi's in his. Back then, Yamato would wrap his short arms around Taichi's waist and fall asleep with his head on his chest. How times had changed. If Yamato were to do that _now_, making intimate bodily contact . . .

Taichi would probably get hard.

_Fuck_.

And then the earlier sight of his brothers double-dicking Yamato entered his mind – and he willed his pants not to tighten. Despite how wrong it was or how much he tried to oppress it, he thought about how _hot_ it would be if it had been _his_ cock up Yamato's arse.

_You're sick, Taichi_.

He promptly decided to ignore the fact that Yamato was just centimetres away from him, and tried to concentrate on his homework instead; the sooner he got it done the sooner he could go to sleep and think about absolutely nothing – but it was harder to do than to say.

_Come on, Taichi_, he tried to focus, staring at his open book. It was his economics homework, for fuck's sake – he was _good_ at it. It was his best subject, along with political science – he always got marks in the high 80s to mid 90s in them, and his friends were constantly floored by the fact that he was so good at them and so shit at everything else. He maintained that he could only pay attention in subjects that interested him, and those two did, though his friends still thought that was weird. He couldn't explain their allure, though; they were just really simple to him and he liked them – though not tonight, apparently.

He closed his schoolbook and opened the top drawer of his bedside table before shoving it in along with his pen, then switched his lamp off, enveloping the room in complete darkness. He wasn't going to get his homework done so it was best to go to sleep – the fact that Yamato probably needed the room to be dark to actually fall asleep had occurred to him, too. It was weird – this feeling of _caring_ about Yamato. He just hoped it was his big brother instincts at work after being out-of-commission for almost a decade.

But he knew that wasn't it – at least not entirely. And _that_, he did not like one bit.

* * *

Taichi stared vacantly at his breakfast plate the next morning, deep in thought. It was hard to believe that only three days ago he wouldn't have been thinking so much about Yamato, and now . . . well, the blond was all he thought about – and in a very _wrong_ way. Hell, he'd jerked off in the shower just half an hour earlier to the image – the one he was desperately trying to forget – of Yamato's double-penetration. Wrong, wrong, _wrong_.

"Taichi," Hideki snapped him out of his thoughts, "finish your breakfast. Or else it goes straight in the bin if you're done." Apparently he wasn't allowing Yamato any food today.

Taichi took a bite of his toasted sandwich and stole a glance at Yamato who was just standing there looking at the floor as per usual. He was still against the idea of Hideki punishing Yamato for something that wasn't really his fault, but purchasing Yamato food for the day would be easy enough to do.

"Are you walking again?" Hideki asked as he got up and pushed his chair under the kitchen table. Taichi nodded.

"I'm walking too," Eito piped up from his chair, "so you and Toru can go."

Taichi frowned inwardly – he couldn't buy Yamato food from that store now. And after last night, he also wasn't particularly fond of Eito, despite the fact that he'd been the most understanding – Eito had, after all, still gone along with Toru in the first place.

"All right," Hideki said with a nod, glancing at Toru. "Come on."

As Toru followed Hideki out of the kitchen, he purposefully bumped into Yamato, who lost his footing a little. Taichi could only roll his eyes at how juvenile his older brother was.

Eito thought nothing of it and stood up. "You ready Taichi? Grab your bag and let's go."

"Nah," Taichi replied cooly, "I gotta do my homework, so I'm gonna leave when I have to." Maybe he could get Eito to go ahead without him so that he could still purchase Yamato some food.

But Eito gave him a slightly puzzled look before saying, "OK. I'll wait for you in the living room, then." Taichi groaned inwardly as he watched Eito exit the kitchen.

". . . Are you done, Taichi?" Yamato spoke up quietly. He motioned towards Taichi's half-eaten toast. "Can I take your plate . . .?"

Taichi found it a little depressing that Yamato actually had to ask for permission to clear away the table – it was like asking for permission to be a _slave_. But that was how it had always been.

"Yeah, I'm done," he replied, getting up from his chair and shoving the remains of his toast into his mouth all at once – quite an amusing feat to see, because even the corners of Yamato's mouth curved upwards into a half-smile at the sight. Taichi gulped it all down and found himself smiling back at him, which made Yamato blush a little before lowering his eyes and focussing on getting all the tableware into the sink.

It was actually their first mutual smile in a _long_ time – a fact that made Taichi both happy and sad.

"Take a quick shower, yeah?" Taichi said easily, due to their minor breakthrough, though it was quite unneeded as Yamato always took quick showers – he had just wanted to prolong speaking to him. Their interactions were still at a mediocre level, but he figured any form of communication was good communication – it could only help to progress their . . . relationship. "I'll wait for you in our room."

Yamato looked at him in a little surprise. "OK."

Taichi nodded his head at him then left the kitchen to their bedroom. It was going to be tough to – to do whatever the hell he was trying to do with Yamato. Be friends? Be . . . _brothers_? In any case, he was trying to be nice to him – to treat him as a _human being_. He guessed . . . he wanted things to be normal between them; for things to go back to the way they were.

He was off to a good start, wasn't he? Yamato had just _smiled_ at him, so for that split-second, it meant he was _comfortable_ around him – or at the very least, didn't see him as a total stranger to be feared of. He was on the right track to normalcy with the blond, then – well . . . if he ignored the _minor_ slip-up of masturbating to his getting fucked. Yeah, _that_ was a little weird and _definitely_ not normal. But . . . but so what – Yamato had a cute arse; it was the fact that it was cute and _not_ because it was Yamato's that made him jerk off. _Of course_.

"Homework, homework, homework," Taichi muttered to himself, taking a seat on his bed and pulling his economics book out of his school bag. He hadn't really intended on doing it like he'd told Eito, but he might as well – it could keep his mind off thoughts he _shouldn't_ be having of Yamato.

Five minutes later though and he hadn't achieved anything – well, other than think about what Yamato was doing in the shower. Did he masturbate, maybe?

_OK, stop._

He was _really_ creeping himself out – and it didn't help when Yamato entered the room, fully nude. He forced himself not to look at the blond's obvious anatomy – only to think about how hot he looked with wet hair.

Yamato advanced towards his cardboard box of clothes; he had intended to re-use the uniform he'd put on last night, but that had ended up with cum stains, so he figured he'd use tomorrow's uniform for today. He wasn't aware of Taichi's eyes on him as he pulled out what he needed – he was used to being naked around his brothers, after all.

Taichi's mood changed as Yamato's back was exposed to him. "What did they do to you last night?" he asked, even though he had a fairly good idea from the wounds.

Yamato turned to him as he pulled on his pants. "Belted me . . . then burnt me with cigarettes . . ." His voice was quiet, and Taichi could tell he was trying not to sound like he was placing blame on anyone.

Taichi sighed internally. Their brothers' usual method of belting Yamato was to use both ends – which meant the belt buckle end, too. That could actually damage Yamato's spine – but like they gave a fuck. As for the cigarettes, their brothers were fond of burning random patches of Yamato's skin – but they found it even more fun to burn an open sore, which is what they obviously did yesterday, by the looks of it. No wonder Yamato had cried.

"Was that it?" Taichi queried, even though that made it sound like it hadn't been much – when he was actually feeling like shit for not being able to help Yamato.

". . . I have to go to GB on Saturday." Yamato turned his back to Taichi as he buttoned up his long-sleeved shirt – but even he couldn't hide the fact that he was less than thrilled, because he _loathed_ that place; he just hoped Taichi wouldn't be offended and just let it slide.

A few days ago Taichi might've been bothered by Yamato's obvious disappointment and taken it as rude and disrespectful – it was like the blond saying his given punishment wasn't good enough for him – but not now. His perspectives had changed. It still felt a little weird to him – this _transitioning_ period – but . . . he _knew_ he'd rather protect Yamato than hurt him. He also knew how much Yamato hated GB.

GB was a gay bar that was managed by a friend of Hideki's. Since Yamato was twelve, they had sporadically forced him to 'work' there in the backroom, illegally; basically, it was a quick and easy way for them to make money – and also to make Yamato miserable at the same time. It was a legit bar though, so only people in the 'know' – through word-of-mouth – knew about the occasional backroom stint; as it were, word spread fast. 'Customers' would pay 500 yen to fuck Yamato for five minutes, or until they reached orgasm – whichever occurred first.

GB's opening hours were 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. and Yamato _never_ went without a fuck during those seven hours, so theoretically, he made them 42,000 yen a night. It was a lot of money, but they made more from the usual (and less brutal) way of renting him out; they liked to think of GB as 'sex for the poor'. Taichi couldn't imagine having a cock up his arse for seven hours straight, and had always felt bad for Yamato whenever their brothers decided to take him to GB – sometimes as a punishment, or sometimes just because they felt like it.

Taichi had gone once with Hideki to pick Yamato up from GB. They'd had to wait a few minutes for the last guy to 'finish', and he remembered thinking about how much he'd have liked to cut that guy's penis off – of course, at the time, he'd had no idea why. When the guy had gone, and whilst Hideki collected all the money from his manager friend, Taichi had advanced closer towards Yamato, and the image of the blond from that early morning was burned into his brain: Naked. Blindfolded. Hands tied. Arse fucked raw.

He'd never gone along to pick Yamato up from GB since.

". . . I'm ready," Yamato spoke up tentatively, now fully dressed with his jacket buttoned up.

Taichi shoved his homework back into his bag then reached over to one of his drawers where he kept his loose change, grabbing six 500 yen coins and offering them to Yamato. "Here, for food." At least he'd found a solution to his problem.

Yamato looked surprised as usual, before hesitantly approaching Taichi, accepting the coins. When he saw what they amounted to though, he reached his hand back out towards his brother. "Taichi, this is . . . I can't . . ."

"Yeah you can," was the brunet's blunt reply; Yamato was damn well getting fed.

But Yamato's hand stayed outstretched towards him. "But . . . yesterday, I . . . was bad . . ." He wasn't used to being given 3,000 yen unless it was money Hideki had specifically given him to go out and buy groceries with. So why was Taichi giving him money for _food_, basically going behind Hideki's back?

"Yeah, well, you're already being punished for that," Taichi replied, even though he didn't think Yamato had been 'bad'. The blond's childish speech was a little weird – sometimes Taichi thought his younger brother seemed smart and mature, but other times, like now, he seemed naive and innocent. Surprisingly, he actually found it a little endearing. "It's fine, really."

Yamato looked as though he wanted to protest but then thought better of it – it was better to do as told. "Thanks . . ." he gave in, slowly retracting his hand and placing the coins into his pants pocket. And he hated himself for it, but he couldn't help thinking back to his thoughts about Taichi playing some sort of sadistic game and tricking him for his own amusement – but, well, Taichi _had_ just given him the equivalent of six weeks' worth of the allowance he got from Hideki . . .

Taichi gave him a slight smile. "Wait for me after school at the front gates, OK? We'll walk home together." He didn't want Yamato to do a disappearing act on him again.

"OK . . ." Yamato nodded slowly, still unsure of Taichi's motives – even though he shouldn't be questioning him at all. His brother could do whatever the hell he wanted to, like make him go home immediately after school, even though he had little desire to be around Toru so soon again. He had planned to go to the mall or the library after school – maybe even 'hang out' with Ken if the older boy wasn't sick of him yet, and would actually be kind enough to ask – just to keep out of harm's way, but now those plans were scrapped.

Taichi couldn't help noticing Yamato's lack of enthusiasm – did the blond have a problem with walking home with him? Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he let out a gruff, "Let's get going."

* * *

The high school-aged Yagamis walked together in silence; the elder two in front, side-by-side, whilst the younger walked behind. It was common for Yamato to be mute, but not so for the other two; Taichi was just naturally loud, and Eito had the tendency to speak more around him than anyone else. Needless to say, it was a very awkward walk to school.

Taichi noted that they hadn't walked to school together – just the three of them – since he was a second-year junior high school student. Weird – especially the fact that he and Eito _weren't_ bullying Yamato. The times they'd done this back then they'd be pushing and shoving the blond around just for the heck of it, or continuously throwing and kicking his school bag out of his reach. Eito had even once pulled Yamato's pants down so that he had embarrassingly flashed a bunch of kids from school; Taichi had found that particularly hilarious at the time. Eito was a riot.

But there _had_ been a time when Eito had been nice to Yamato – back when they were _really_ little. Taichi remembered how he and Eito would place tiny four year old Yamato into an open cardboard box and drag him around in it, pretending it was a plane. Back then, Eito actually seemed to _like_ making Yamato happy – even sometimes making him jealous; just a little. Eito would even regularly ask their father for money so that Yamato could ride a mechanical coin-operated kiddie plane every time they went to the shops.

Yamato liked planes – or at least he did; Taichi didn't know if that fact still stood. He realised he didn't know a lot about Yamato, despite the fact that they'd shared a bedroom their whole lives. _That_ needed to be fixed, somehow. Maybe he should purchase a model aeroplane for Yamato as a late birthday gift, and see how that goes? That one time he had gotten angry at Yamato for breaking _his_ model aeroplane, the blond had only laughed – until the little moron realised that it was _really_ broken and couldn't be fixed; _then_ he had burst into tears for _hours_.

Taichi wondered if that was the first time he'd ever felt exasperated.

Thinking about those memories, though . . . it made him smile.

Eito noticed him smiling at nothing and placed an arm around his shoulders. "Whatcha smilin' about?" he asked in an easy tone, trying to break some ice.

Taichi wasn't having any of that. "Nothing," he replied, then shrugged Eito's arm off. "Don't be a . . . faggot." Using that as an insult though, he did feel a little weird and . . . hypocritical.

Eito gave a small laugh, refusing to acknowledge Taichi's coldness. "The only fag here is Yamato," he cocked his head back at the blond.

Taichi stopped walking, making Eito and Yamato follow suit. "Leave him alone," he found himself saying, staring Eito straight in the eyes. He wagered that he could afford to say that – Eito felt like he owed him, after all.

And he was right.

"I didn't mean anything by it," Eito replied evenly. "It's not like he's actually gay."

Wait. What? _Fuck._

That hadn't even occurred to him – he'd been thinking so much about whether _he_ was gay that he hadn't even thought about the possibility that Yamato _wasn't_. In fact, he had just assumed Yamato _was_ because he got fucked up the arse all the time. But that meant nothing – they _forced_ Yamato to have sex with men; it wasn't like he had a fucking _choice_. So unless they could _make_ someone gay, Yamato most likely wasn't. Great. It was bad enough that _he_ might be gay, but now he could be lusting after a _straight_ brother? _Fuck_. There were so many things wrong with that sentence.

"You know," Eito then said in a serious tone, denoting a change of subject, "Hideki thinks you freaked out last night because of mum and dad."

"Huh?" came Taichi's ever intelligent reply. His mind was more focussed on the matter of his probable incestuous and homosexual lust for a possibly heterosexual brother. His mind should shut the fuck up.

"We did tell him about how you went ape shit on us, you know," Eito replied with a wry smile. "He thinks last night scared you because we lost mum and dad, so you didn't want to lose someone else – even if it was just Yamato."

Yamato. Taichi didn't like that last bit so he chose to ignore it, and processed the other information. To be honest, he hadn't even thought about their parents – but he appreciated the fact that Hideki had tried to understand and give reason for his actions. Actually, it was a good cover, so if Hideki and the others wanted to believe that was the reason he got so fired up, it was fine with him.

"Come on, we're going to be late," Eito then prompted for them to start walking again, which they did – this time in fairly comfortable silence; a little bit of ice had been broken.

They had walked most of their journey already though, so it didn't take long for their high school to come into view.

Taichi squinted a little; was that Ken hanging around the front – _again_?

* * *

**End of Chapter**

* * *

D:

If this chapter doesn't seem "full" it's because it's actually only about half the chapter four I was supposed to write (I have all the scenes jotted down in point form). ^^; But because I'm at a block and it's already _slightly_ longer than chapter three, I decided to "cut" chapter four in half – so chapter five will actually be the second half of chapter four (and added chapter five bits, I suppose). ^^;

Beyond what you've just read I've only written about 1,500 more words – and it felt like such a chore. ^^; If I _had_ waited to finish chapter four _properly_, I probably wouldn't get it out until, like, six months later, so I thought it'd be better to give you most of what I've got? ^^;

Next chapter: Taito molestation + kiss (originally was the end of this chapter, haha), Kenato oral (pretty definite), and possible Kenato and/or Taito lemon. Yamato's a little slut. D:

That's if I get motivated because I am _stuck_. ^^;

Notes:

* Yamato was shown to be a strong swimmer in episode three of Digimon Adventure, and his Digimon Adventure 02 Drama CD "_Tegami ~Letter~_" takes place at the beach where he's inspired to write the TEEN-AGE WOLVES's "_Tobira ~Door~_". I don't think making him a swimmer requires much of an imagination stretch. I also find it odd when people write about him being against sports because, if anything, the series showed that he _liked_ sports. Digimon Adventure, episode sixteen: he _happily_ tries to teach the digimon how to play soccer – which, _gasp_, means he actually knows how to play it. But then Taichi, of all people, scolds him. (Oh, also, Yamato isn't obsessed about his hair in any way – the hot springs scene where Tai jumps in and Matt says something like "watch the hair", he's actually just scolding Taichi for rudely jumping in. Mentioning this in case people are like "Yamato wouldn't want to ruin his hair in water!" . . . Yamato doesn't care.) Yamato's official Japanese profile also states that he _excels at sports_. Really. It does.

* Yamato likes planes because I think it's more logical for him to want to be a pilot first before deciding to become an astronaut – 99% of astronauts come from the military (the _navy_ or the air force). Yamato's name is a very _patriotic_ name for boys in Japan. Coincidentally, being an astronaut requires strong swimming skills and for the applicant to be in perfect physical shape (as does the military). (And the Japanese _Navy_'s biggest battleship in WWII was also named Yamato . . . I think it's pretty obvious Yamato was set up for a career as a naval aviator – which leads to his becoming an astronaut.)

* Taichi's favourite subjects are economics (I assume the more political side, as Digimon Adventure 02 implied that he sucked at maths) and political science because they're the building blocks for a diplomat. It suits him because it's a position of leadership (the world is run by politicians), requires him to be a good charismatic speaker whom people will go along with, and it also takes him on "adventures" (going from country to country).


	5. XY: Five

**Author's Note:** Holy crap – three years. Is anyone still following this? It'll probably be best to go over and read the previous four chapters as a reminder, eh? ;) (I know I had to . . . numerous times over, haha.)

I know this story is a bit out there, and most people probably wouldn't want to be seen reviewing a story like this – which makes me appreciate those who actually _do_ review a whole lot more (or those who have sent their thoughts via PM). :) THANK YOU. :)

I'll answer some questions that will hopefully be beneficial to everyone:

_Saxor_, gosh, you write the longest reviews! ^_^ The bad news is that the Kenato is indeed doomed (sorry!) – but the good news is Yamato won't be thinking of Ken as just using him for sexual pleasures. He'll be thinking along those lines in regards to Taichi later on, though (yay he has his own brain!). _Bigfan!_, you're right regarding Taichi abusing his power over Yamato. ;) We haven't seen the last of arsehole!Taichi – in fact, I'm pretty certain he'll be an arse . . . the chapter after the next, hehe. ^^; Also, regarding how I don't go very deep into Yamato's mind: I've chosen to exclude a lot of Yamato's thoughts (though this chapter does see a bit more than usual from him), seeing as the Taito is currently one-sided. I can't wait for it to become mutual, because then the actual Taito will have started! :) _Almost_, there's a bit of jealous!Taichi in this chapter – though he gets rather explosive two chapters later (tying in with arsehole!Taichi). XD; _Koji4ever_, writing Yamato as timid is tough for me, too. ;) I always have to remind myself that he's an utterly abused child. But he should grow a bit of a backbone as the story progresses – hopefully I don't crap that up. XD; I actually wrote **Rough Trade** because the Yamato there has a backbone that this Yamato will never have. XD; _YAJJ_, I wasn't planning on having either Takeru or Hikari show up . . . but I've since changed my mind about Takeru, and he pops up here (potentially altering the plot quite a bit . . .). Hikari, however, still doesn't (and won't) exist. Sorry. :( This is AU, and most of the Chosen won't be here unless they further the plot. As of right now, the only other Chosen I can see popping up might be Jou . . . maybe Koushirou. _Draquete Ackles Felton_, thank you for the huge review. I actually put off writing a Taito for five years prior to writing this because I wasn't sure people would like a story like this . . . so I'm very glad people do in fact like it. ;) I will try my best to finish this story, but it'll take a _long_ time – at the moment, I estimate _at least_ a total of fifteen chapters . . . and it took me three years just to get the fifth one out. =|

And I would just like to add how surprised I am that there are quite a few people who actually want this to end Kenato. I totally didn't see that coming, haha. I will try to flesh the Kenato out a bit more, but sadly for some, the relationship is rather short-lived. :(

(I actually let my best friend read this story and she said to me: "It's obvious Yamato is going to end up with Ken" . . . and then when I told her Yamato actually ends up with Taichi, she was like ". . . O_O =| BUT THEY'RE BROTHERS!" Hahaha.)

Oh, please check out **XY: Beginnings** if you haven't already – it's supplementary reading! :)

**Edit:** Revised on 13 March 2012.

* * *

**5. XY: Five**

* * *

Taichi exited the social science staffroom in a hurry, forcing Daisuke, who had been waiting for him outside the door, to pick up his pace. The final bell had rung about fifteen minutes ago, and Taichi hoped Yamato was waiting for him at the front gates like he'd said he would, and hadn't walked off just because he was late.

"Did Miss Ito give you detention?" the shorter brunet asked, referring to Taichi's economics teacher. She had told Taichi to see her in the staffroom after school.

"Nah, just a friendly warning," Taichi replied, as the two made their way through the corridors. "She wanted to make sure that not doing my homework doesn't become a trend throughout the year. I am her star student, after all."

"And so modest, too," Daisuke joked – even though he was far from modest himself. "Why do you like all that political economy mumbo jumbo anyway?" Then he grinned. "It has to be 'cause Miss Ito's hot, right?"

Miss Ito was hot? Who knew. Not Taichi. Well, he guessed she was . . . _attractive_ – for a woman. But – well . . . not his type. He forced a smile. "Duh."

Daisuke smirked. "You reckon she'll give you the time of day?"

"When she sees my cock," Taichi smiled widely, playing along, "she'll wonder why she ever wasted her time with average-dicked dudes."

Daisuke, having an average dick himself, playfully shoved his friend. "Dude, when girls pull down your pants, they run the fuck away from you. Yagami dicks are not normal."

The two shared a laugh as they stepped out into the open air, walking on the pathway parallel to another building that swerved around to freedom. Taichi started rounding the corner that actually led to the front gates, but stopped as he saw not only Yamato, but Ken too, just up ahead.

He frowned and voiced what he was thinking. "What's up with Ken?"

Daisuke had stopped when Taichi had, and gave his friend a quizzical look. "What's up with him?"

"He's always around Yamato. I mean, he was with him yesterday at lunch, and he was at the front gates this morning too – waiting for him, probably. And he wasn't with us at recess and lunch today . . ." Taichi trailed off. He would've liked to have been with Yamato during those breaks, but he thought he should put _some_ distance between them, seeing as Eito was getting kind of suspicious. Now, if only _Ken_ felt the same way.

"I don't know," Daisuke mused, giving a shrug of his shoulders. And then, seemingly from out of nowhere to Taichi, "Maybe he likes him."

"What?" Taichi asked, surprised. Then he gave Daisuke an odd look as he fully processed that speculation. "Seriously, the things that come out of your mouth . . ." _Was_ Ken gay?

"What?" Daisuke defended himself. "I mean – he kinda looks like he sucks cock, don't you think?"

At that, Taichi gave him an incredulous look. "How does someone _look_ like they suck cock, Daisuke? Did you see him sucking a cock-shaped lollipop or something?"

"Ha ha," Daisuke remarked dryly, then shrugged. "I dunno. I think he's a cool dude and all – love him in a non-gay way – but it's a little weird that he's never talked to me about girls, you know? Plus, he's a pretty boy, isn't he? A kinda girly one . . ."

Taichi had to concede that Ken was attractive – probably more attractive than _he_ was, admittedly. But Ken wasn't his type; like Daisuke said, he was pretty girly and, well . . . androgynous. Ken really should cut his hair or something. OK, maybe he was being a tad bit mean, because if Ken _was_ gay then that meant – well, that meant the guy was hitting on his _goddamn_ _little brother_.

_Someone_ was going to get their arse kicked.

Taichi frowned. "But you can't say someone's gay because they're . . . _pretty_." He didn't want that to be the case, nor did he know why he was so against Ken being gay exactly – competition? _What the fuck._

Apparently, though Taichi's rational and logical mind knew that if Yamato was straight, it meant that he couldn't go after him (. . . as though incest wasn't an issue, either) – his penis thought differently. _Very_ differently.

"Course not," Daisuke agreed. "Hey, Yamato's a pretty boy and he's not gay. But Ken and I are pretty good friends, almost like me and you, man. I just get the feeling that he might be gay. We never did see a girl with him on Monday, did we?"

All Taichi processed was: _Yamato_. _Not_. _Gay_.

But what did Daisuke and his pea-sized brain know, anyway? Well, a lot more than _he_ did, apparently – Daisuke might actually be right about Ken, if he actually really thought about it. "Why don't you think Yamato's gay?" Taichi found himself asking. Yamato had feminine facial features; like a male model. And like male models, he also had a certain quiet masculinity about him. Taichi found that paradox hot, personally –

_OK. Stop._

Daisuke looked at him in surprise. "What, you mean he is?"

_I hope – goddamnit_. "No," Taichi answered. "But what about him makes you think he's not?"

Daisuke shrugged. "I just can't see him with anyone. Boy _or_ girl."

"So . . . you think he's . . . asexual?" Taichi queried skeptically. Wow, if only Daisuke knew just _how_ sexual Yamato was . . .

"I'm just saying," Daisuke shrugged again, looking over at the blond in question. "Hey, maybe he's on drugs."

"_What?_" Taichi said at the change of direction.

"Yeah, in health class we learnt that some drugs make people anti-social," Daisuke replied, unruffled. "And do you remember Jun's ex? He started doing drugs and now he's, like, a rake."

"Yamato isn't on drugs," Taichi told him firmly. He wasn't _actively_ against a lot of things, because it felt preachy and goody two shoes-ish, but drug use was definitely one thing he was _well_ against, being athletic and all. He didn't understand why people did drugs, really; why would anyone want to lose all their energy and look like they hadn't eaten in years?

"How do you know? It's not like he'd tell you – he knows you'd beat him up," Daisuke retorted. "And it fits, you know? He's weird around people. And, you know, compared to you and Eito, he's a little _too_ thin . . ."

_That happens when you don't eat enough for five years_, Taichi thought. Instead, he voiced, "It's not drugs. It's just puberty stretching out his body to catch up to his height. He'll fill out properly when he's done." At least he _hoped_ he'd figure out a way to supply Yamato with food on a regular basis.

"Well, that makes sense," Daisuke admitted. "I guess it's just a little weird seeing him . . . I dunno – hollow-ish? Back in elementary school he was always one of the biggest kids in his grade."

Well, back then Yamato ate normally just like them. It was only treats like junk food or expensive crap that their father had restricted from him, unless he had been 'good'. But that hadn't seemed to bother Yamato much – if Taichi recalled correctly, Yamato actually _liked_ vegetables. Gross.

"I guess it is because he's so tall that he looks sort of stretched," Daisuke continued. "If he was shorter he'd look less thin."

"Talking about me?" interrupted a new voice; it was Tanaka Sho, captain of the soccer team. He was also the tallest person in school, standing at an impressive six foot five – and also ridiculously skinny, a la England's international soccer player, Peter Crouch.

"Nah, Sho," Daisuke replied, then looked over at Yamato to indicate him, "Taichi's younger brother."

"There's another Yagami?" Sho snorted, following Daisuke's gaze. "Shit, he's blond."

"How'd the fuck that happen?" Taichi remarked sarcastically. It was no secret that he and Sho didn't exactly get along. Sometimes Eito would take jabs at Sho on his behalf, like when he told Sho he could use someone with his height on the football team – only Sho would probably break like a twig during a tackle. Needless to say, Sho didn't like Eito much, either.

Sho threw Taichi a look of irritation, before recovering with a smirk, "Don't forget about our first soccer practice of the year tomorrow. After all, you need all the help you can get if you want my Captaincy _next_ year."

Taichi resisted the urge to punch him. "Unlike you, Tanaka, soccer isn't my entire life – yet I'm _still_ only a fraction behind you on the field." He only ran once a week on top of running during the twice-a-week soccer practice they usually had – but Sho also ran _every single day._

"The point, Yagami," Sho said coldly, "is that you _are_ behind me." He then broke out into a mocking smile. "So don't be late tomorrow. Bye, _girls_." He walked off towards the front gates.

"I could take him," Taichi glared at Sho's retreating back.

"Well, he is freakishly tall – but yeah, probably," Daisuke smirked a little. "But, dude, why are we standing here for?"

"'Cause of Ken," Taichi replied, glancing over at the black-haired teenager in question, standing with his brother – and _another_ blond, who wasn't there a moment ago. "Hey, who's that?"

"New guy in Ken's class, I think," Daisuke replied, then brought up the reason why he'd waited for Taichi in the first place. "So are you coming over to my place, or what?"

Taichi flicked his eyes back to friend. "Nah, not today."

"You mean I waited for you for nothing?" Daisuke exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

"Well no one asked you to, man," Taichi smirked, before he started moving towards the front gates.

"You could've told me that at lunch or something!" Daisuke whined, grudgingly following his friend.

* * *

Yamato stood waiting next to the front gates for Taichi, watching aimlessly as other students poured out of the school – one of whom was Eito, with his arm around some random girl.

Eito was always with some random girl – tonnes of them. His brother had a whole collection of female clothing left over by the various girls he had sex with; sometimes Eito would even make him put some on for a fuck – which Yamato had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, he found it a lot more embarrassing than usual, but on the other hand . . . it was some of the best sex he'd ever experienced, as embarrassing as it was to admit. Eito, like Hideki and Toru, normally fucked him hard with the intention of hurting him, but whenever he was made to wear female clothing, he knew Eito was pretending he was some girl. Unsurprisingly, Eito treated girls a lot better during sex than he normally did Yamato.

Yamato actually _liked_ having sex with Eito during those times.

He blushed faintly at the thought as Eito walked past him with his latest 'girlfriend'. In typical fashion, his brother didn't even acknowledge him; Yamato hadn't expected him to, of course, but he still felt an all too familiar dull ache. It was as though he was invisible, and the only times he seemed to appear on his brothers' radars were when it suited their needs for him to – like their apparent need to hurt him.

He shook his head to rid his mind of potentially bad thoughts about his brothers. They had brought him up and taken care of him – something his own mother hadn't wanted to do. How could he really think badly of them when they had stepped in and raised him, even – and _especially _– when it had been _his_ fault that _they_ didn't have a mother, either? That their father had gotten sick? He owed them a lot, and if punishing him relieved some of _their_ hurt, even if he didn't like it (and a lot of the time - _most_ of the time - he thought they went too far) – well, he'd just have to put up with it until they stopped hurting and forgave him. That was the right thing to do – the _least_ he could do. He certainly couldn't bring their mother or father back . . .

Or his own mother.

Despite the fact that she obviously hadn't wanted him, he still sometimes thought about her: who she was, where she was, how she was . . . if she still lived by her decision sixteen years ago, or if she'd changed her mind. Sometimes, he'd let his mind think that she _had_ changed her mind - that she'd realised she made a mistake, and she was coming to get him . . .

And then he'd feel terrible - like he was betraying his brothers for thinking that way.

"Hey."

Yamato turned around at the greeting that interrupted his thoughts and, upon seeing Ken, broke out into a genuine smile. "Hello." If he let himself dream for a bit, the older boy actually seemed to want to be his _friend _– he had willingly spent both recess and lunch with him today.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," Ken returned, smiling widely. "People might think there's something going on between us."

Yamato blushed a little, but remained smiling – which Ken took as a _very_ positive sign. Maybe now was the right time? He took a deep breath. "Listen Yamato," he began, denoting a change of subject. His voice had gotten a little more serious. "I was thinking . . . do you want to come over to my apartment today?"

Yamato blinked, surprised by the invitation – from a _male_. "Your . . . apartment?" He'd never had a friend invite him over before – mostly because he'd never had a friend, really.

"Yeah," Ken replied, nodding. "Well, actually, my brother's apartment. I live with my parents but my older brother lives nearby by himself, but I have a room there too, and Osamu – my brother – gives me more freedom than my parents do, you know?" Crap, he'd rambled. A _room_?

_Way to be suggestive, Ken_.

But Yamato didn't seem to think anything of it. Instead, he'd just thought that _his_ brothers certainly didn't give him freedom, so unlike Ken, he _didn't_ know. But he nodded anyway.

"So . . .?" Ken looked at Yamato imploringly, awaiting his answer.

Yamato sadly gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I can't . . . I'm waiting for Taichi. I have to go home."

_Rejected_.

"Oh," Ken's smile faltered a little, but he tried not to show too much of his disappointment. "Well, that's OK." So Yamato wasn't interested in him after all. That _sucked_ – a lot more than he'd anticipated, actually.

Yamato bit his lip – he'd never seen Ken sad before. Had he hurt his friend's feelings? "Maybe . . . tomorrow?" he suggested instead. He didn't know for sure if he'd be allowed to go – whether or not Taichi, or one of his other brothers, would need him home before six – but he wanted Ken to return to being happy.

Ken's entire face lit up. "Really? You'll come over . . . tomorrow?" He had to make sure Yamato wasn't just playing around – he was sure the younger boy had just used an excuse about going home because he wasn't interested in him.

But Yamato gave him a smile and a nod. "Yeah . . . um, unless something important comes up . . ." He'd added that just in case he had to tell Ken he couldn't go after all.

"That's fine," Ken grinned, ecstatic at the real possibility that Yamato might like him back after all. He didn't have a lot of experience with this ('this' being a relationship) – and by 'a lot', he meant 'none'. It was to be expected when one was in the closet. But it seemed like Yamato was new to dating too, and Ken liked the idea that they could be each others' first boyfriends – maybe even high school sweethearts.

OK, he was really getting ahead of himself – Yamato hadn't even gone to his (brother's) apartment yet. But Yamato had just made his day by accepting his invitation – he couldn't wipe the grin off his face if he'd tried. In fact, he didn't even mind when he noticed a new classmate of his coming towards them - which meant said classmate was going to infringe on his time with Yamato, which he usually wouldn't like - at all. But it didn't really bother him this time - not on the current high he was on.

"Hi Ken," his classmate, a tall blond boy, greeted when he reached them.

"Takeru, hey," Ken greeted back, still grinning about his new development with Yamato - whom he naturally introduced. "This is Yamato." _Possibly my future boyfriend_. If he was a schoolgirl, he possibly might have giggled. "Yamato, this is Takeru – he's in my class."

The two blonds exchanged 'Hellos', though Ken noticed that Yamato seemed to retreat back into his shell in the presence of someone new. It gave him a good idea of how far he'd come with Yamato in just a few days though – the blond was noticeably more relaxed, comfortable, and less shy around him. He liked that.

"Man, was that maths quiz a killer or what?" Takeru remarked, shaking his head – obviously referencing a class test from earlier in the day.

Ken nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it surprisingly was – I'd be lucky if I managed over 90."

Takeru raised his eyebrows. "Woah," he laughed. "I was thinking more like 70 for myself."

Ken grinned. "Sometimes I forget I'm an overachiever to most people." He elbowed Yamato. "I bet _you'd_ have done well in it, though." He'd found through their conversations that Yamato was something of a mathematician.

Yamato blushed lightly and shrugged modestly, and simply smiled at Ken.

"I'm new here," Takeru spoke up for Yamato's benefit, trying to get the other blond to talk to him so he'd be more comfortable – because it didn't seem like he was. "I just transferred here for the new school year from Sangenjaya. Are you new too?" He'd asked that question because the other blond seemed awfully shy and quiet – possibly attributed to not knowing many people?

But Yamato shook his head. "No." He'd lived in Odaiba his entire life – but then, his response wasn't really correct. "Um . . . yes." He reddened a little, seemingly embarrassed for stumbling. "I'm a first year, so . . . this is my first time here, but I still . . . I mean, I've always lived here . . ."

Takeru laughed, though his eyes weren't unkind. "I get it, don't worry."

"Hey, hey, Kenny boy!"a hyper voice then interrupted them. It belonged to Daisuke, who slapped Ken's shoulders in greeting, as he and Taichi joined them in a small circle. "What's happenin'?"

"I was making a new friend," Takeru had answered before Ken could, indicating Yamato, who seemed surprised. The new blond was obviously not shy. "I'm Takeru, I'm in Ken's class."

"I'm Daisuke, and this is Taichi," the brunet returned. "We're _not_ in Ken's class." They all laughed at that – well, Yamato just smiled a little.

The first thing Taichi noticed about the new kid was that he was tall – he was slightly taller than Ken, slightly shorter than Yamato. He was also . . . well, good-looking. Yeah, Takeru was definitely good-looking – but in an ordinary, almost dull sort of way. 'Cute' probably summed him up. Not like Yamato – who was_ gorgeous_ . . .

Now that Taichi had really allowed himself to explore the _possibility_ that he might be gay, he'd been, well, _considering_ the looks of other guys throughout the day; that meant all the guys in his class, all the guys he played soccer with – heck, even his male _teachers_. He had come to the following conclusions, among many others: that Daisuke was average-looking at best, if a bit on the side of ugly; that his 20-something year old PE teacher was actually pretty hot; and that even fucking _Sho_ wasn't bad-looking, to his own horror.

And Taichi was _sure_ he'd never looked twice at other guys' looks before – at least not while being so _aware_ of it. He honestly didn't know whether he liked it or not. He didn't _want _to like it, because being straight was . . . the right thing to be. But at the same time, he hadn't_ minded_ looking at all those guys . . .

And, well, there was _one_ guy who he'd _always_ looked at . . .

"You play any sport?" Daisuke asked Takeru, snapping Taichi out of his thoughts. No one was surprised by his question – Daisuke didn't seem to care about anything other than sports and his friends.

"Yeah," Taichi added, deciding to contribute to the conversation so as not to appear any 'different' than he normally did when he _wasn't_ thinking about taboo things. "You have a good build." He'd noticed the blond had pretty toned arms – especially considering he was just a second year like them.

Takeru smiled. "Thanks. I hit the gym every now and then, but no, I don't play. I used to play basketball back in junior high, but quit for more time to get serious about what I want to do after I graduate. I write."

"You write?" Daisuke looked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, for the school newspaper. Back in my old school, anyway. I'm trying to get a position here now."

Daisuke shot Taichi a look as if to say 'who would ditch sports for writing?', and Taichi just gave a short laugh.

"That's cool, man," Taichi told Takeru. "I probably should start thinking about what I want to do after high school, too."

"Well, _my_ future's mapped out," Ken offered, to no one's surprise.

Then Daisuke started talking about his future plans of opening a worldwide noodle cart, and Ken just couldn't take him seriously. He looked over at Yamato, who seemed to be listening intently to Daisuke – the brunet was now going on about all the different kinds of noodles he'd sell.

Ken tuned him out and, instead, thought for about the fiftieth time that day how good Yamato managed to look in his school uniform, with his jacket buttoned up and (presumably) all the buttons on his shirt underneath done up as well, except for the one at the very top. Most guys just left their jackets fully opened and their shirts untucked, looking sloppy – but Yamato looked refined and elegant with the way he wore his uniform, contrasting with how innocent - or just not _worldly_ - his face and personality actually came off. Yamato was such an alluring contradiction, Ken thought. And he looked even more adorable because his attire – though styled for elegance – actually seemed dated, so it was almost like a little boy went into an old clothes shop to attempt to dress himself as a prince, working with what he could afford. It made Ken smile.

Curious, he looked over at Yamato's brother to compare how he presented himself – but was surprised by how noticeably different their attires were, now that he was really looking at them side-by-side. Yamato's clothes looked especially well-worn compared to the brunet's, and his school bag was obviously a few years old, at least. But Taichi's uniform, including his school bag and shoes, looked brand new. Ken couldn't help but think that was strange – even if Yamato was the youngest and got hand-me-downs, there was no reason why Taichi would get new clothes and Yamato didn't; there were older Yagamis, after all.

The difference bugged Ken a little, but he figured he was just being obsessive about Yamato. If he pulled back and looked at the bigger picture, the matter seemed so insignificant, so he decided against bringing it up. Maybe Yamato didn't mind wearing old school clothes, but Taichi did, and had argued against it with his eldest brother? He knew how good the brunet was at getting his way.

The boys' discussion continued on for another ten minutes or so, switching from one mindless topic to another, until Takeru directed a question to the only person who hadn't contributed to the conversation. "You don't talk much, do you?" he asked Yamato, though not unkindly.

"He's just really shy," Ken spoke up in the younger blond's defence, giving Yamato a warm smile, who returned it.

Taichi's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the exchange – he just felt that _he_ should've been the one to say that. He was Yamato's freaking brother, after all.

"I'm really friendly," Takeru told the other blond - as though it hadn't been more than obvious to everyone during their conversations. "I don't bite, honest. Do you play any sports?" He was just attempting to get the kid to talk without lame questions like 'what's your favourite colour?'.

"No," Taichi answered for his brother, as though he was competing with Ken to answer Yamato's questions for him. He knew it was childish, and it didn't help that when he'd answered he had looked straight at Ken – who had just raised his eyebrows at him.

Yamato opened his mouth a little. "I used to swim . . ." he said quietly, surprising everyone. His eyes landed on Taichi, and he was reminded of the times his brothers had taunted him for it – so maybe he shouldn't have brought it up . . .

"Yeah, like, in elementary school," Taichi huffed unimpressively. "That doesn't count, Yamato." He only realised what he'd said had felt like an attack when Yamato looked to the ground dejectedly. _Way to go, Taichi_.

"I think that's awesome," Ken spoke up, defending Yamato and again making Taichi feel irritated.

_Great, Ken's getting brownie points left and right._

"Yeah, that's cool," Takeru agreed. "I can't even swim." He laughed. "Were you any good at it?"

Yamato looked back up and nodded, the corners of his mouth curving into a small smile. "I usually came first in the 100 and 200 metre freestyle." Those were the events he was most proud of – from first grade to fifth grade, he'd managed to out-swim most of his competing classmates. That was until their father died, and Hideki banned Yamato's involvement in swimming because he 'enjoyed it too much'.

"Hey that's really good Yamato," Ken said, obviously impressed. "Well done."

"Thanks," Yamato gave him another smile. He wasn't used to being praised; now, not only Ken, but the new guy - Takeru - were actually making him feel good about himself. And it felt _really_ good.

Taichi hated it. Yamato smiled too often at Ken, he decided. The blond had just given Taichi a half-smile _once_ yesterday. "It was elementary school," he interjected. "He probably can't swim half as well now. There's a reason he didn't continue it into junior high." _Because Hideki wouldn't let him_. Taichi knew he was hurting Yamato's feelings even further, but the desire to throw down whatever Ken said made him spit that out.

"Why are you dissing him?" Takeru asked. He'd only just met these guys (other than Ken, who he'd only met a few days prior), and though he liked all of them, it just seemed a little too much like Taichi was a big fish picking on a silent little fish.

Daisuke, who took almost nothing seriously, just gave an easy chuckle and said, "Taichi's his big brother. It's his job to diss him."

"Really?" Takeru's eyebrows rose, glancing from Taichi to Yamato and back again. "I think I look more like Yamato's brother than you do, Taichi."

Taichi looked at the two blonds in succession. They did have similar colouring - blond hair, blue eyes, light skin. "That's true," he agreed, nodding his head. "But too bad – he's _my_ brother, not yours."

He was surprised when he looked at Yamato and found a small smile on his lips.

_Score_.

* * *

Finally, after everyone went their separate ways, Taichi and Yamato were on their way home together – but in awkward silence. Now that they were actually alone like Taichi had wanted, he still didn't know what to say to the blond. What could he say to a brother he barely knew? Likewise, Yamato was still unsure of Taichi's agenda in being . . . civil to him. He appreciated all of Taichi's acts of kindness towards him, but the brunet still had a rather sharp tongue towards him sometimes - that conversation with his friends just now proved it. He really didn't know what Taichi was thinking or doing in being so up-and-down. But there wasn't anything he could do to find out, short of actually asking Taichi. And like that was going to happen – Yamato was still scared of him, even with his recent 'good' intentions.

So the brothers continued walking in silence. But they were about half way home when a voice from behind called out to them.

"Yo, wait up!"

Taichi and Yamato both turned around. It was Ryu. The third-year boy came to a short stop in front of them.

"Taichi," Ryu greeted the brunet first, before landing lecherous eyes on the blond. "_Yamato_."

Taichi did not like that. "Ryu, right?" he asked, just to get the older teen's gaze away from his brother. He knew who he was – there were rumours that he was gay, but no one had ever dared asked him or called him out on it because of how muscular he was.

Ryu nodded in the affirmative, though he felt slighted because he knew Taichi knew who he was – he'd been over the Yagamis on several occasions throughout the years, and he was Eito's friend. So he gave a dry chuckle, and told the brunet 'jokingly', "You know, you look fugly next to your brother."

Taichi's eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to insult Ryu –

"No he doesn't," Yamato spoke up, quietly, for the first time during their walk home.

Taichi looked at Yamato – had the blond just called him good-looking? He was sure that statement was, like, saying he was hot by default – not that Taichi should care.

Except he did.

"Whatever," Ryu retorted. He hadn't actually managed to fist-fuck Yamato yesterday – the blond had squirmed too much and started bleeding. Maybe it was because they needed lube? Probably. He had managed to stick five fingers in Yamato up to his middle knuckles, but couldn't push through to his base knuckles, and then the bell had rung – so he didn't do shit, really. "Anyway, I have 1000 yen," Ryu said, fully expecting the brunet to know what he was talking about.

Taichi did know, but feigned being clueless – Eito handled this most of the time, not him. "Huh?"

Ryu looked around, as though checking to see if anyone could see or hear them. They were alone. He turned his gaze back to Taichi. "I wanna fuck him," he said in a low voice, implying Yamato.

Taichi's ever literate response? "Fuck off."

"What?" Ryu retorted, not expecting that at all. "Eito would let me. I have the cash, man. And _he _–" Ryu indicated Yamato by stepping closer to the blond and grabbing his cock through his pants, "– wants it. Don't you, bitch?" Ryu's hand rubbed and massaged the outline of Yamato's package, while Yamato just stared at a spot on the ground.

Taichi was getting really annoyed. First at Ryu for calling Yamato a bitch, and again at the bastard for currently groping his brother – but he was also annoyed at Yamato for _letting the guy grope him_. Why didn't the blond just push Ryu off? Did he _like_ it?

Maybe he _was_ a bitch . . .

_That's not fair_, a voice in Taichi's head told him. He mentally punched himself. _Fuck you're a jerk_. Of course Yamato wouldn't do anything – he was _allowed_ to be violated. Taichi's blood boiled – it was as though it just finally dawned on him that Yamato didn't have ownership of his _own_ body parts. (Though, really, Taichi _knew_ – he just never really thought about it before.)

"Fuck. _Off_," Taichi spat venomously, roughly shoving Ryu off of Yamato hard enough to make him lose his footing and fall to the ground. "Don't touch him."

Ryu quickly got back onto his feet, looking visibly pissed off. But he didn't particularly want to start a fight with Eito's kid brother, so he forced himself to contain his anger. "What gives, man?" he exclaimed, instead of throwing a punch – which is what he would have done if it had been anyone else.

"You're not going to fuck him," Taichi replied coldly. "So you might as well fuck off."

"No, I _am_ going to fuck him because I have 1000 yen," Ryu retorted, not backing down. He'd just stolen the money from a scared first-year after school, just for that exact purpose. "I'll fucking call your brothers and you're going to be looking on as the bitch blows me, arsehole."

Taichi was sure that was some form of power play – just who did this guy think he was? Taichi had more power than he did when it came to Yamato, surely – but Ryu thinks he can go over his head, to his brothers, to get his way? Taichi's anger was nearing its limits. He stepped forward to stand right up close to Ryu.

Taichi was tall at six foot, and easily towered over the older boy, who must've been half a foot shorter than him, at least. He smirked. "I bet you could give Yamato a blow job standing up," he taunted.

Ryu did not like that. "Fuck you, Yagami. I don't give a shit if you're Eito's brother, I'll kick your fucking arse."

"Yeah?" Taichi asked, unintimidated, before quickly pulling his arm back and throwing the first punch - catching Ryu by surprise.

Yamato watched helplessly as Ryu quickly retaliated by tackling Taichi to the ground; he wasn't sure what he should – or _could_ – do. Taichi was his brother, but Ryu was also like an authority figure to him as well – it was like seeing Toru and Eito get into a fight, almost.

He continued to watch with concern as Taichi tried to get Ryu off of him by trying to land some punches, but Ryu very obviously had the upper hand – the older boy outweighed his brother, and was doing a good job of defending himself.

_Why is Taichi doing this?_ Yamato wondered, panicked. Ryu had the money to fuck him - so why didn't Taichi just let him? Why did he punch Ryu over it? He was so confused . . . but _so_ appreciative of Taichi - whatever his reasons.

A minute into the fight and Yamato decided he'd try to get Ryu off of Taichi – he grabbed onto Ryu's shirt and started pulling at him, repeating for him to stop.

Ryu punched Taichi in the ribs, just hard enough to get the wind knocked out of him for a few moments – he didn't want to really injure the kid seriously, because he was still Eito's brother after all. However, though Yamato was Eito's brother too, he obviously didn't _matter_ – and as the blond had begun to pull at Ryu's shirt, he was becoming an annoyance.

So Ryu quickly turned around and landed a direct, forceful punch to Yamato's head, not bothering to only exert half of his strength like he'd been doing with Taichi – the blond fell to the ground, limp.

Ryu turned his attention back to the brunet who had just recovered from his punch, only to get a punch in return from the kid, causing his lip to bleed profusely. Ryu was getting tired of this – but he had to give it to Taichi, he was a good fighter and wasn't afraid to go up against guys bigger than him. In fact, the runt had actually managed to flip their positions now – how he did it, Ryu had no idea. But he didn't intend for him to keep it.

A few moments later, Ryu had flipped them back the other way around, and he was just about to smash in Taichi's face when –

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!"

Before Ryu even registered who that was, he found himself forcefully shoved off of Taichi, hard enough to have his hands, arms and knees scrape along the asphalt some distance before he stopped. When he looked back to see who it was, he saw Eito looking Taichi over like a mother would her child.

Then Eito's eyes made contact with Ryu's – and he was pissed off, no doubt.

"What. The. Fuck?" Eito growled at him.

Ryu didn't answer right away – he contemplated his choices. He knew that he could _probably_ beat Eito in a fight, but Eito had something that Ryu didn't have – status. Eito was literally on top of the social ladder at Odaiba High, and he controlled a lot of the jocks – especially those in the football and baseball teams. Ryu didn't play any sports, didn't have any teammates or real friends, and though he was more muscular than the so-called "jocks" (he practically lived at the gym), they outnumbered him. If he messed with Eito, he was messing with the entire school. It would be a suicidal move. So, he forced himself to calm down.

"Eito, man, I'm sorry," he apologised, though he didn't actually mean it. "I just lost my temper, dude."

"So you hit my fucking little brother?" Eito retorted, his voice like ice on fire.

"He threw the first punch, man," Ryu said defensively.

Eito didn't seem to give a shit, however. "You don't hit Taichi. Ever." He stared Ryu down, as though challenging him to say otherwise.

But Ryu nodded in defeat. "You're right," he said, playing nice to stay on Eito's good side. "I'm sorry, dude."

Eito didn't respond to that, but continued to glare at the other boy. Ryu eventually got the idea, got up, and started walking away. He'd explain what happened another day when Eito cooled down some.

Eito turned his attention back to Taichi. "Are you OK?" he asked, though he'd checked on all the injuries he could see and they weren't that bad, all things considered. Taichi had a bruise on his left cheek, a bump on the back of his head, another rather large bruise on his ribs, and just small cuts and scrapes on his hands and arms from contact with the ground. He could've been worst off though - Taichi was lucky that Eito had been on his way home from dropping a girl off at her place, otherwise he'd have been home already and not seen the fight to stop it.

Taichi nodded, "Yeah." He'd finally got all his bearings together, but shook his head one last time, as if to recover from a possible mild concussion. "I'm fine," he asserted, before he seemed to remember the reason_ for_ the fight . . .

Yamato was sprawled out on the ground before him, just behind Eito, who'd been unintentionally concealing the blond from Taichi's view as he'd knelt down in front of him.

"Is he OK?" Taichi asked, eyes on Yamato.

Eito followed Taichi's gaze and looked over his shoulder at the blond. He turned his attention back to Taichi and shrugged, "I don't know."

Taichi didn't say anything for a few seconds, before shuffling past Eito on his hands and knees to reach Yamato. There didn't seem to be any fresh bruises on Yamato's face, so Taichi ran a hand through his hair instead, and sure enough, he found a growing lump on the right side of Yamato's head, where Ryu had obviously hit him.

Eito watched silently – and curiously – as Taichi began rubbing Yamato's injured head, unsure of why his brother was acting the way he was. There was an uncomfortable atmosphere that hung in the air. Eito then noticed that there were several coins littered on the pavement, and just for an excuse to do something, he began quietly collecting them.

When he was done, he held the coins out for Taichi to take. "Here."

But Taichi shook his head. "They're Yamato's," he responded. The coins had obviously fallen out of Yamato's pocket during the scuffle.

". . . Really." The surprise in Eito's voice was obvious.

It was only then that Taichi realised he'd answered without thinking._ Shit_. Of course – Yamato shouldn't have anywhere near that much money . . .

Taichi raked his brain for an excuse, for anything to say – but Eito simply shoved the coins into Yamato's pocket, before proceeding to scoop the blond up, cradling him in his arms. "Let's go."

Taichi, still on the ground, looked up at his brother. He didn't . . . understand. Eito was letting something that was pretty fucking significant go, not to mention the fact that he was actually carrying Yamato, prepared to take him home. Taichi was _sure_ that Eito was just going to tell him to leave Yamato there on the pavement – that the blond could get home himself when he came to. He'd done it before, like when their friends got a bit rowdy somewhere, like at a park or field, and they'd all assault Yamato for 'fun' and just leave him there as they went off to get even more drunk or whatever. It wasn't important to take Yamato back.

So for Eito to do that . . .

Taichi didn't know what to think.

Except that he was grateful.

* * *

Ishida Hiroaki looked at the number on the apartment door, and back at the creased piece of paper in his hand. Scrawled on it was the address of the apartment he was currently standing in front of, as well as a contact number, and the message "REALLY GOOD ARSE" in big bold letters, as though the guy he'd met at the bar had to emphasise the point.

He'd been given the details about a week ago, even after he'd promised himself just prior to moving to Odaiba that he wouldn't go into one of _those_ bars again. It was supposed to be a new, fresh start . . . But he had gone in, and he had gotten caught up in looking at the other men - and in particular, looking at the teenage boys who'd gotten in with fake IDs . . .

It was wrong, he knew, but he couldn't help it. He'd keep telling himself that he had a _partner_, that he had a _son._ But . . . he couldn't help doing this. Ever since he had taken that first step into his first gay bar just five years ago, he'd been screwing young boys in motel rooms, or the back of his car, once or twice a month. And he'd never been caught. He'd feel guilty, yes – but he loved it.

Supposedly this kid was beauty personified – not to mention a fantastic lay. It had taken him a week of continuously rubbing that piece of paper between his fingers, over and over again in his pants pocket, before he caved in to desire and just decided to drive here after getting off work earlier today.

He rang the doorbell.

He waited about half a minute before the door opened and a tall, extremely built, good-looking young man stood before him. He'd have been his type if he was younger.

"Hello," Hiroaki greeted.

Hideki nodded in return. "Yeah?"

"Oh," Hiroaki cleared his throat, "I'm Hiroaki. I, uh . . . I met someone at a bar who gave me your address for . . . well . . ." He didn't know quite how to put it.

"I see," Hideki responded, unperturbed - like he was used to men coming to his door wanting sex and looking ashamed. He crossed his arms. "You didn't call?"

"No," Hiroaki admitted. "Sorry, I hadn't planned . . . well, I didn't know if I would go through with this or not." His cheeks reddened a little in embarrassment.

Hideki sized him up silently for a few seconds. "Next time, call. We're not usually open to random drop-ins. For starters, it would be nice to know when Yamato is needed, so we can make sure that he'll definitely be here for you."

"Oh," Hiroaki's face fell, taking note of the boy's name. "He's not here?"

"No," Hideki answered. "He might be here soon. He might not. But if you'd call, we'd have booked a session for you."

"Right, right," Hiroaki muttered. "Sorry about that."

"It's not me wasting my time," Hideki countered. "But seeing as you're here, let me inform you of the rules and rates." He started to recite the usual drill he gave to first-time customers. "There is one room, and just one room, where you can engage in sexual activity. In the room you'll find lubrication, an assortment of toys, and condoms of a variety of sizes, should you have none. There is to be absolutely _no_ barebacking and you must _always_ wear a condom, even for oral.

"Each session is half an hour max – if you eat into even a minute over half an hour, you'll be asked to pay for two sessions. Oral sex is 5000 yen, anal sex is 50,000 yen. If you pay for oral, oral is all you get – but if you pay for anal, you're welcome to do anything, including oral. Any questions?"

Hiroaki took a moment to digest all of the information, before replying, "Sounds reasonable, if a bit pricier than I'm used to."

Hideki didn't comment on that, but asked, "So what will it be for today?"

"Well . . . I'd like to see the boy first before I agree to anything. Look before I buy, you know?" he joked a little.

_Fucking pervert_, Hideki thought, but just nodded his head. He had no problems with renting Yamato out to men of whatever age – he didn't give a shit about him, after all – but he couldn't help but judge the ones who were over 30. They were obviously paedophiles, and it kind of bothered him that he was in contact with so many of them. But he didn't dwell on it often. His father . . . well, his father had been sick. He wasn't a paedophile; not like these men.

Footsteps were then heard coming towards them, and Hideki stepped out of the apartment to see Eito, Taichi, and Yamato walking towards them. The middle-aged man – Hiroaki – looked like his interest had been piqued by quite a lot.

But Hideki's thoughts had changed from renting Yamato out, to Taichi's facial injury – there was a visible bruise on his cheek. "What happened to you?" Hideki directed at Taichi once his brothers reached him. He also glanced at Eito for the answer.

"He got into a fight with Ryu," Eito answered for Taichi, who hadn't bothered to respond; the younger brunet was staring intensely at the newcomer.

"Ryu?" Hideki questioned. "Your friend Ryu?"

"The one and only," Eito replied with a sigh.

"Well, did you kick his arse?" Hideki demanded of Eito, as though he'd expected him to avenge whatever Ryu did to Taichi.

" . . . No."

"And why not?" Hideki asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Don't you have a fucking customer?" Eito changed the subject to avoid a lecture, looking at the middle-aged man. Besides, it wasn't like it had been _his_ fault.

Hideki seemed to relent at that – at least for now. "These are my brothers," he informed Hiroaki, then gestured to the blond. "That's Yamato."

Yamato, who'd woken up just five minutes ago, showed no emotion on his face as he looked at the older man. He knew why the man was there – he'd done this hundreds of times before and gotten accustomed to the routine ages ago. At the beginning, his face would always fall whenever someone came over for him – but after one man had commented about it to Hideki (he'd said "the boy being sad was a turn off"), his oldest brother had beaten him severely for it and told him never to seem unhappy in front of a client ever again. He'd made sure from then on not to show emotion in front of them.

Hiroaki, who'd thought all three boys were more than perfect, nodded his head appreciatively, looking Yamato up and down. "Wow."

"So what'll it be?" Hideki asked.

"Anal sex for an hour," Hiroaki replied. It was a lot of money – 100,000 yen was more than enough to buy a plane ticket to most countries – but the boy was worth it. He _was_ beautiful – plus, there was something awfully familiar about him that just made Hiroaki like him even more.

"Yamato," Hideki simply said in a commanding tone.

The blond reached out and took the older man's hand, giving him a (fake) smile, and proceeded to lead him inside the apartment to the appropriate room for their 'session'.

Taichi watched in silent, concealed anger as Yamato disappeared into the apartment with the old bastard.

He didn't like it. He _really_ didn't fucking like it.

"So what was the fight about?" Hideki asked.

Oh, right. This was the real world where he had Hideki to answer to. Where _everyone_ had Hideki to answer to.

Taichi shrugged. "Something dumb. It was nothing."

"You say that, but you've got a bruise on your fucking face."

Again, Taichi shrugged. "Barely hurts." He was downplaying it - his cheek still stung, and his ribs were sore. But he didn't need Hideki to go looking into the incident.

Hideki stared at him for a while longer before shaking his head, apparently letting it slide – Taichi was a big boy after all, he could handle a punch or two. "I need to talk to you guys, come on." He stepped back inside the apartment and led his brothers to the living room, joining Toru who was sat there watching television.

"Hey," Eito said to Toru, taking a seat next to him. Toru grunted in greeting.

Taichi's eyes met Toru's, but neither of the two chose to acknowledge the other – it seemed their fight from last night was still fresh in their minds. Usually though, Toru would have reacted similarly to how Hideki had reacted to Taichi's bruise. But this time - nothing. Taichi took a seat on the single couch away from Toru and Eito, and Hideki remained standing.

Switching the TV off for a moment, Hideki started the discussion with, "I think we need to assert more control over Yamato."

"That's fucking obvious," Toru agreed, making reference to the incident yesterday.

"What do you mean?" Eito asked Hideki to clarify, voicing what Taichi was thinking. As if they didn't control everything in Yamato's life already – what was asserting _more_ control?

"Well," Hideki started, "I think last night showed that our restraints on him might not be iron clad after all. He directly disobeyed Toru, and that's not something I'm going to tolerate from him. He'd think he was free to do what he wants, and that's not on."

_It's not on for him to be a human being?_

Taichi wondered how he had been OK with this for so long. All of it started to make an insane amount of _un_-sense to him now. That wasn't a word, but he didn't care. It was how he felt.

"I think we need to be harder on him," Hideki continued, looking each of his brothers in the eye. "I want to pull Yamato out of school."

"Why?" Taichi voiced in surprise. The other two brothers shared the same questioning facial expression.

"Because he's no longer required by law to attend," Hideki answered. "What's the point in having him be educated when he could be doing something else in the time wasted? I think, instead, he should be rented out full time." Toru grinned at him, as if to say, 'I'm all for that'.

"_What_?" Taichi exclaimed. "Hideki, no." He shook his head emphatically to get his point across. Yamato was being fucked by some old geezer right now, and Taichi didn't fucking like it now even when Yamato was only doing it 'part-time'. He knew how much Yamato hated how these men – ranging in age from their late teens all the way up to their late forties, sometimes even well into their fifties – came around to use him in Hideki's old bedroom which they had dubbed the 'rent room'. He was going to fight this.

"Why the fuck not?" Toru retorted at him. "We'd make a tonne more money if he worked full time. All his days would be free for it all year 'round."

"Exactly," Hideki said. "And if he's out of school we don't have to worry about feeding him all the time, or beating him up too hard too often, because no one who gives a fuck will know."

_I'd know_, Taichi thought. He understood now what Hideki was trying to do – what his master plan for Yamato was. They were restricted by society – the only times they fully beat up Yamato was during the holidays when he'd have time to heal before going back into the public eye come school. Most of the time they had to be careful not to hit his face – or anywhere visible – too hard.

Taichi remembered how frustrated Hideki or Toru got whenever they knew they were doing a bit too much damage to Yamato that they needed to stop beating the crap out of him, despite the fact that their adrenaline were running ridiculously high and they wanted to keep going. Taichi had witnessed just how violent they could get, and even he didn't stick around for the worst. But Yamato _had_ to stick around, and _more_ – he had to _endure_ their violence.

"Hideki, come on," Taichi said, his voice serious. "He's just a kid." He was just trying to convey the message that he thought it was a little too much for Yamato.

Toru snorted. "You're not even a year older than him and you're calling him a kid?"

Taichi chose to ignore him - he was _only_ a month shy of being a full year older - and kept his eyes on Hideki. "I'm not going to agree to it," he stated, his tone low and defiant. He wasn't going to take the only thing Yamato had away from him – at school, he was free from this apartment and what happened in it. And even then, school wasn't even that safe for the blond . . .

Hideki stared silently at Taichi, trying to figure out his line of thought, before simply nodding his head and looking to Eito and Toru. "How about you guys?"

"Totally _for_ it," Toru predictably replied, before looking over at Eito expectantly for him to agree.

Taichi also looked at Eito, but he obviously wanted his closest brother to agree with _him_. He hadn't thought he had a chance in hell of that until half an hour ago however, when Eito had just ignored Yamato having way more money than he should've, and actually picked the blond up. For whatever reason, Eito seemed a little more understanding towards him – and without question. At least for now. So Taichi hoped he was on his side.

"I think . . ." Eito began, a little hesitant. "I think the school would find it a little suspicious that Yamato would drop out when he's in the highest class." He shrugged. "Who drops out of high school these days? Especially a kid as smart as Yamato. You know one of his teachers who had me last year actually stopped me in the hallway today and praised the kid? And it's only been _three_ days." He'd added the last piece to make his decision against the idea a little more fleshed out and reasonable. And hey, it _did_ happen.

Hideki surveyed his middle brother. "So, you're against the idea?" He raised an eyebrow towards him, for confirmation.

Eito shrugged. "For now . . ." He'd never really spoken against any of Hideki's ideas. Hideki was Hideki after all, and everything just seemed to work his way, so he never questioned it. But Taichi obviously wanted him to be on his side – whatever side that was . . .

"I'll take your opinions into consideration," Hideki finally said at length, before turning and leaving the room, ending the discussion.

Taichi was surprised, but glad, that Eito had sided with him – but he also knew that Hideki _would_ make the final decision by himself if he wanted to. It was as though they should all just appreciate the fact that he _had_ asked for their opinions.

"What is wrong with you guys," Toru remarked, shaking his head. "As if it's a big deal to pull Yamato out of school." He turned the TV back on, but kept the volume low. There was a soccer match being televised.

"How does Yamato staying in school affect you?" Taichi spat back.

"It affects my income," Toru replied lazily, meaning if Yamato worked less he got paid less.

"It's not even yours, arsehole," Taichi retorted. It was rightfully Yamato's – but of course he only ever saw the slightest fraction of it in the form of his measly 500 yen a week allowance.

Toru kept his eyes on the TV, and after a short delay, voiced in a bored tone, "I can't tell the difference between a soccer player and a horse jockey. They're about the same size, right? They both weigh as much as a little girl?"

The youngest brunet rolled his eyes at Toru. "Fuck you," he said, then proceeded to storm off to his room.

* * *

Hideki walked into his bedroom with the 100,000 yen the middle-aged man had paid him, going straight to the large briefcase that he used as a bank for all their 'savings fund'. He clicked it open and placed the new bills with the others that had come from Yamato's customers. The briefcase was split into two compartments: one contained bills, while the other contained white envelopes – with bills inside them. The envelopes were all addressed to 'Yagami Susumu' – they never had a return address, but one envelope came once a month, every month, with 50,000 yen in it. Obviously, the person who sent it had no idea his father was dead.

When his father had been alive, the cash was almost always spent on booze or treats and presents for the boys. But since his father had died, Hideki hadn't touched it at all – he just didn't want to use _that_ woman's money. He didn't need her money – and he _especially_ wasn't going to spend it on her son. So he just let it all pile up in the briefcase – he estimated there was about 3,000,000 yen all up in the envelopes by now.

But he'd burn it all before Yamato saw one yen of it.

Hideki closed the briefcase shut and rubbed his temples, falling back onto his bed. He hated thinking about that bitch. Unlike his mother and father, she was evidently still alive – and it pissed him the fuck off.

The fucking whore had _slept_ with his _married_ father, gotten pregnant, and then _dumped_ the unwanted piece of shit on their family. She had a baggage of crap that she just so easily let go of to ruin other peoples' lives while she was allowed to happily saunter off into the sunset – probably off to fuck another married man, get pregnant, and ruin their lives, too.

Hideki looked over at his desk, where his favourite family portrait sat on display – his father was holding baby Eito, his mother was holding baby Taichi, and he and Toru were standing in front of them, grinning without a worry in the world, like only children could.

_We look so happy._

How could that woman destroy their family?

It made him so angry. His mother was a thousand times the woman that slut had been. _She_ loved her sons and would never dream of sleeping with a married man, a _family_ man. God, he missed her so much.

"_Take care of your brothers. And your father."_

That was the last thing she had said to him. He'd drifted off to sleep soon after, thinking that she was just saying good night to him – but found out the next morning that she had really been saying good bye.

If only he had stayed up and talked to her, begged her to stay, maybe she wouldn't have . . .

Hideki shook his head. He couldn't even keep his promise to her. He had failed with his father – he was dead. But he was determined to keep the other half of his promise to her – he was going to take care of his little brothers until the day he died.

He owed her that.

A knock on the door then caught his attention, and he sat up on his bed in time to see Toru closing his bedroom door behind him.

"What's up?" he asked his younger brother, who proceeded to sit down next to him on his King size bed.

"What happened to Taichi?" Toru asked. Apparently he didn't want to ask Taichi himself; didn't want his kid brother to think he _cared_ about him or anything - at least not currently, what with the way things stood between them, anyway.

Hideki sighed. "Fight with Ryu."

Toru's eyebrow rose. "Eito's faggot friend?" He was surprised because that kid was sturdy for an eighteen year old, and Taichi had no chance against him.

Hideki nodded. "Next time he comes around, he's done for."

"Don't worry," Toru told him. "I'll take care of him - there's almost nothing better than beating up a fag. Almost feels as good as beating up Yamato." He laughed, and Hideki couldn't help but grin at his closest brother. He could talk more easily with Toru than with the others - he didn't need to be so stuck in the role of the overly domineering eldest brother.

Toru might not be the smartest of the brothers - actually, they all knew he was the least intelligent, though he was in no way dumb, however much he might act like he was - but he understood Hideki the most. It was probably because he had been old enough to experience and remember what had happened to their family, just as Hideki had. In that way, the two identified with each other a lot more than Eito or Taichi could, as the younger two had just been babies when their life went to shit, and therefore their wounds weren't as "fresh" but instead had been acquired in a second-hand kind of way. Hideki knew he could always count on Toru to agree with him on almost anything.

"Just don't kill the faggot. Or get caught," Hideki cautioned his brother. "You almost got arrested when you publicly assaulted that guy who went after Eito for screwing his sister. I don't need you getting locked up."

"Gotcha," Toru smirked, remembering beating that particular arsehole senseless for kicking Eito's arse. Good times. But then his face turned serious. "What'cha gonna do about Yamato? Eito and Taichi are being girls about it."

"Right?" Hideki agreed, arching an eyebrow. "But, I haven't decided. Eito brought up a good point, so I don't know."

Toru shook his head. "Just do it, Hideki. The faggot really doesn't fucking need to be in school. And you know, all the cash he makes - it goes straight to our futures and shit. You don't think Eito and Taichi would appreciate that, at the end of the day?"

He basically echoed Hideki's own thoughts. "Yeah, I know," Hideki agreed again. "But all this gets me thinking . . . what's going to happen when Yamato turns twenty?"

Toru snorted. "He'd probably run away when he comes of age."

"You think so?" Hideki asked. He'd thought about that possibility himself, but he was rather dubious of it actually happening - after all, he'd ingrained in Yamato while 'raising' him that the blond _needed_ them; that he was too dependent on them, and nowhere near independent enough to survive on his own. It had been part of his scheme to make Yamato think a certain way, so that he wouldn't question the way he was treated. If Yamato had been civilised properly, he would no doubt know that what they were doing wasn't right - and therefore would not put up with it as he'd been doing his entire life.

"Yeah. Or maybe his mum will come for him then," Toru shrugged.

Hideki had contemplated that as well. "She might." He remembered the bitch looking so fucking upset that she was leaving Yamato with them - but then, _why the fuck_ did she leave him here in the first place? They would have _gladly_ let her keep him.

Toru was quiet for a moment. "Isn't that a good thing?" Yamato would be . . . gone. That's what they had wanted. Right?

Hideki paused at that, before shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah. Maybe. I don't know." He didn't know why that unsettled him. Maybe because _he_ had been the one to put up with Yamato for sixteen years and counting, and for his stupid cow of a mother to just come in and take the kid away after _he_ had raised him - like he was just some babysitting service that took care of your kid before he was full-grown so you could pick him up once he was nicely packaged as a twenty-year-old . . .

It seemed a bit wrong, didn't it? He'd been responsible for Yamato for _sixteen_ years . . .

Toru registered Hideki's non-answer, but didn't say anything about it. "So . . . what'cha gonna do about Yamato?" he instead repeated his previous question, before all the stuff about Yamato's pending adulthood - that was four years away.

The brothers were silent for a moment, until Toru broke out into a grin.

"Let's just have some fun for now. I have an idea . . ."

* * *

Yamato had just finished cleaning up the rent room after his hour-long session with Hiroaki, when Eito entered the room and closed the door behind him.

Yamato automatically assumed that Eito wanted to use him, and so fell obediently to his knees in a ready position to service his brother.

But Eito shook his head. "No," he voiced as he walked towards Yamato to stand in front of him.

The blond slowly got back up onto his feet, standing face to face with Eito, and feeling a small sense of relief that his brother didn't want to sexually abuse him. But he soon found himself feeling increasingly uneasy as his older brother just stared into his eyes intensely for a whole minute without saying anything. Yamato was reminded that Eito could be almost as intimidating as Hideki and Toru when he wanted to be.

After another minute, Eito finally asked in a low voice, "Where'd you get the money?"

Yamato blinked, surprised by the question. ". . . What?" he asked meekly. Inside, he was panicking – was Eito asking about the money Taichi had given him? But how did he know about that . . .

Eito's eyes narrowed. "_Don't_ play dumb with me. You know what I'm talking about."

Eito was the most perceptive of the brothers, and it was clear to him that something was going on with Taichi – something that concerned Yamato. He couldn't piece everything together yet, but he knew he was on the right track. But he didn't want to spook Taichi by confronting him about it – at least not yet. He wanted to see where this was going first; whether there was anything to be concerned about.

"The money . . ." Yamato began timidly. "The money in my pocket?" He felt sad that Eito was being so intimidating to him now when he'd actually felt a little . . . _cared_ for by his brother when he had regained consciousness and found himself in his arms earlier.

Eito resisted the urge to slap Yamato (any other day and he would have – he was just refraining on Taichi's behalf). The blond was just so slow and dumb in communication – how the hell he had done so well in school, Eito didn't know. He nodded. "You have more money than you should. Why? And don't you _fucking_ lie to me."

Yamato swallowed. So Eito knew. "Tai . . . Taichi gave me the money," he answered him.

Eito had suspected that, of course. He wasn't thick. "And why would he do that?" he asked.

Yamato shook his head. "I – I don't know . . ." He knew he shouldn't have accepted the coins from Taichi - he was going to get it now from Eito and the others. But he hoped he hadn't gotten Taichi in trouble as well . . . his brother had just tried to help him. Right? Or had this been Taichi's ploy all along . . .

"You . . ." Eito cocked his head, voice dubious, "don't know?"

Yamato shook his head again. "He just . . . gave it to me. He said . . . for food." He couldn't lie to Eito – he was too much of a wimp, and there was no point in digging a deeper grave.

Eito stared Yamato down hard, contemplating his answer. _Why is Taichi taking interest in feeding him?_

However, Eito's thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and two figures walked in: Hideki and Toru. Yamato's heart sank - this couldn't be good.

"New rules!" Toru laughed as he walked towards Yamato. He had a sadistic grin on his face.

Hideki followed close behind, approaching Yamato and levelling him with a steel gaze. "Listen carefully," he said in a tone to match his gaze. "Because your mother was a _bitch_, it's only fitting that you're a pup. So these are rules for this apartment, and this apartment only, befitting your new pup status. From now on you are to be naked at all times. When addressing us, you'll forget our names and instead call us 'Master'. If we want to call you Yamato, we will – but you will now also answer to 'Pup'.

"You are to ask for our permission every time you need to take a piss, a dump, a shower. I will no longer give you a weekly allowance, because a pup has no need for money. You will only eat dog food from now on. And unless you're cooking breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or otherwise given permission to stand, you are to always be on your hands and knees at all times. Understood?"

Yamato's face had fallen to utter devastation as he processed the new rules, like a small puppy that had been kicked too many times and left abandoned out in the rain. And then run over by a truck.

"_Understood_?" Hideki repeated with more force when Yamato didn't respond.

"Did I . . ." Yamato began, his voice wavering, "Did I do something wrong?" He was on the verge of tears.

"Well disobeying me yesterday certainly wasn't _right_," Toru said mockingly.

Yamato looked at him desperately, panic and alarm in his eyes. "I'm sorry – I told you - I really, _really_ am, Toru –"

_Slap_.

"It's fucking 'Master', arsehole," Toru barked at him.

Yamato brought a hand up to his reddened cheek. "Please . . ." he begged. "_Please_ don't do this . . . I'll be good, I swear . . . I'll be better . . ." They were stripping him of what little pride he had left. Why? He couldn't understand why they couldn't just _once_ think about how _he_ felt.

"Pup," Hideki said in a warning tone. "Get your clothes off and get down on your hands and knees before I make you do it myself – and you don't fucking want me to, you know that."

There was a rather long pause before Yamato shakily started pulling all his clothes off, and getting down onto the floor on his hands and knees.

"Good boy," Hideki remarked coldly. "That's your place, Pup. Don't you ever fucking forget it."

On his hands and knees on the floor, with his head lowered, Yamato let his tears fall. _Why are they doing this . . ._ Hadn't he been punished severely enough? He still had to go to GB on Saturday . . .

Toru stepped up to Yamato, bent down a little, and roughly grabbed his hair, angling the blond's face upwards so he was looking up at him. He ignored the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Now finish off what you were _meant_ to do last night, faggot," Toru sneered, letting go of Yamato's hair so he could unzip his pants. His limp dick fell out easily.

Yamato's vision was a little blurry with the salt water in his eyes, but there was no mistaking Toru's cock in front of him. Now he _had_ to do what he'd tried to escape from doing the previous night - because he didn't know _what_ they'd do if he didn't. They were already so angry at him. If he had just been obedient last night and drank Toru's urine then, all this wouldn't be happening now - he wouldn't have been on his hands and knees like a dog . . . it was all his fault.

_Stupid, stupid Yamato . . ._

Yamato forced himself to hold back the remainder of his tears, took a deep, sniffled breath, and leaned forward to take the tip of Toru's penis into his mouth. He rested both hands on Toru's thighs for leverage.

It didn't take long for Toru to start pissing.

Yamato gagged, and Toru reached out and gripped his chin in the event that he'd pull away - but Yamato remained this time, and continued drinking.

The taste was both familiar and unfamiliar to Yamato; because Toru hadn't been drinking today, his urine was less bitter than it had been yesterday, but still, there was an unmistakable foul taste nonetheless.

It was awful.

Yamato forced his mind to think he was drinking something else - mineral water. Really old, been-out-in-the-sun-all-day, mineral water. That fish swam and died in. He gagged a little again, but forced himself to continue - there was bound to be an end soon.

Eito stood on the other side of Yamato, watching him consume Toru's urine. He did think it was disgusting, but at the same time, it wasn't like it was really any worse than anything else they made Yamato consume - it was all the same, no different to anything else.

At last, Yamato had sucked Toru dry. His older brother smirked at him. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Yamato didn't answer - he wanted to wash his mouth out _really_ bad. _Would you like _me_ to urinate in _your_ mouth?_ he couldn't help thinking, before chastising himself.

"Will you be disobeying us from now on?" Hideki asked roughly.

Yamato looked up at him. "No," he answered quietly.

"I think you're fucking missing something, Pup," Toru interjected, smashing his fist into his palm for effect.

Yamato turned sad eyes to him before returning his gaze to Hideki. "No, Master," he said quietly. Then, in an even quieter voice, "But . . ." he started, before changing his mind and closing his mouth.

Hideki's eyes narrowed. "You want to say something?"

Yamato looked back down at his hands on the floor, and swallowed a few times, before looking back up with what courage he had left - which, to be honest, wasn't much. And it wasn't even _courage_ - it was just . . . his fear and reluctance towards the new rules - towards his new role.

"I . . ." he began, timidly, "I always . . . _almost_ always, do exactly as you say -"

"So you admit that you _do_ disobey us?" Hideki countered, twisting what Yamato was trying to say.

Yamato closed his mouth and paused uncomfortably, before trying again. "Only sometimes . . . initially . . . but I always obey in the end. But that's - that's not what I meant. I just . . ."

When none of his three brothers in the room said anything, Yamato ascertained that maybe it was OK to keep going. But he tried to choose his words carefully. "I . . . I don't mean to disrespect you - I don't. I'm - I'm not." Yamato shook his head to make it clear. "But . . . sometimes . . . sometimes I just feel like . . . you're being a little . . . unfair . . ." His last word was barely above a whisper.

"What was that?" Hideki growled, taking a step closer to the blond and cocking his head down mockingly. "_Unfair_?" He turned to Toru. "Did he just fucking say _unfair_?"

Toru snorted. "He definitely said that shit." Eito had an eyebrow raised at Yamato's little speech.

Yamato, in a panic, forced himself to finish what he wanted to say so that maybe they could understand where he was coming from. "It's just - I mean . . . I do everything you say. But I always . . . I always get punished. Even when I do everything you say. And Taichi - he doesn't always do everything you say. But he never gets punished - not like I do." He kept his gaze to the floor out of fear.

Hideki stared down hard at Yamato's bowed head. He was a little surprised that the blond had actually dared to say that. What the fuck?

"I'm curious," Hideki said through clenched teeth, "but are you actually insinuating that _you_ and _Taichi_ are fucking _equal_?"

Yamato took a moment to respond. "No," he said quietly. He knew that much.

"Then what is this bullshit coming out of your goddamn mouth!"

". . . It was just an example . . ."

"Just an example? You have more, do you?" Hideki growled at him.

Yamato shrugged his shoulders helplessly. This wasn't going well . . .

"Why is it fucking unfair? Go on, tell me arsehole," Hideki sneered through his anger. Toru was watching, riveted, with a sinister grin. Eito just shook his head at Yamato - the blond shouldn't have opened his mouth like that. He really thought he'd have known a lot better by now.

"When Daddy was alive -"

_Slap_.

"Well he's fucking not because of you!" Hideki yelled, pushed to his limit. He grabbed Yamato around his shoulders, his hands clenching around the blond's upper arms, as he lifted him up from his position on the floor so that they were face to face. "If you were actually an intelligent fucking arsehole, maybe you would've considered the fact that if you _had_ obeyed us, instead of speaking up against _our_ rules, we might have lifted the new rules later on, when you'd have shown us you _can_ obey us and therefore had redeemed yourself?

"But no, you're just a fucking dumbarse."

Yamato was shaking in Hideki's grip - his arms were getting increasingly sore, and he was always so frightened when Hideki got mad at him like this. "I'm sorry," he managed to say, "I didn't mean it . . . I'm sorry . . . Master."

Hideki continued to glare at the blond at eye level, wanting to pummel him, but a quick glance towards Eito told him he shouldn't. His middle brother had shaken his head at him - a signal that said he shouldn't damage Yamato any more than he already was damaged. The blond's injuries were piling up from the past few days, and it definitely wouldn't look good to anyone outside of the apartment. Yamato was lucky this time.

Hideki forced himself to let Yamato go, who immediately dropped back down to his position on his hands and knees on the floor. "Go brush your fucking teeth," Hideki told him in a low voice, before turning and leaving the room.

Toru laughed, following Hideki out the door. "I'll buy a fucking collar and leash for you tomorrow – you'll fucking love it," he said, before he too disappeared.

Eito looked down at Yamato pitifully; he actually felt sorry for him, despite the blond being rather - well, _blond_, and speaking his mind to Hideki. Where had that come from, anyway? That was the most he'd ever heard Yamato say about his treatment in years. The blond must really not have liked the new rules - and Eito couldn't blame him. The money issue with Taichi seemed so small in comparison that he thought maybe he'd just let Yamato keep the coins. After all, how could he punish the blond any worse?

Hideki had obviously replaced his idea of pulling Yamato out of school with _this _new idea . . .

Maybe Yamato would have been better off with the former.

* * *

Taichi stood shirtless in front of his wardrobe's mirror, looking at himself from all angles as he flexed his muscles.

He liked his body – so Toru could go fuck himself.

Maybe his brother's insults would mean more when he _had_ a typical soccer player's build a year ago – he admitted he'd gotten rather slim from all those years playing the endurance sport. His brothers had explained to him that soccer training was making him overdo his cardiovascular work outs – he was forced to run faster and harder, which made a person burn not only fat, but muscle as well. So Hideki had drawn up a personalised work out schedule for him, as well as a healthy eating plan to stick to – which Taichi followed . . . about half the time.

OK, so he just found going to the gym and eating no junk food whatsoever _incredibly_ boring. So, really, sticking to it only half the time was actually pretty freaking good of him. And it was still rewarding – though obviously not as much as it would've been if he'd stuck to it 100 per cent.

His current physique was lean, toned, and decently muscled. He even had a six pack forming quite nicely. For an (almost) seventeen-year-old boy, he thought he was doing pretty well. Real life wasn't like those US television shows where incredibly built actors well into their 20s or 30s played teenagers. In _real _life high school, Taichi estimated about 10 per cent of guys in their first year, 15 per cent in their second year, and maybe 25 per cent in their third and final year, actually did _some_ form of muscle training. And definitely in varying degrees of success – there weren't many guys with Eito's physique walking around Odaiba High – less than ten, max. Actually, Ryu (the faggot jerk) was the most built high schooler Taichi knew, and he wasn't even as built as Toru.

Taichi was sure he had a good body for his age – if he were another dude, he'd bang him.

Smirking to himself, Taichi grabbed two dumbbells from underneath his bed, before sitting down on said bed and focussing on doing reps one arm at a time for a light workout – every little bit counts, and at the moment, he was bored enough to do it.

Actually, he wondered if Yamato found his body attractive – he sure hoped so.

Taichi sighed. He didn't even know if Yamato was gay. Or if _he_ himself was definitely gay. Or if Yamato would even consider . . . _being_ with him.

He was so fucked up. This was all so fucked up.

But he still liked the idea of building up his body more to impress Yamato, so for the next hour or so he alternated between dumbbells, push ups, sit ups, and stomach crunches.

He had just stopped for a rest on his bed when his bedroom door creaked open and Yamato . . . _crawled _in on his hands and knees. Fully nude.

_That's strange_, Taichi thought, _the guys must be having a laugh_. Although he felt annoyed by what they were currently forcing Yamato to do, he decided he'd voiced enough negativity against his brothers for one day – no need to go overboard.

. . . And besides, a nude Yamato was an _insane_ turn on.

Taichi sat up on his bed and watched as the blond closed the door and slowly made his way to his mattress, and proceeded to lay down flat on his stomach, burying his face completely in his stuffed animal 'pillow'.

_He must be upset about having sex with that stupid old man_, Taichi thought, feeling frustrated and helpless about the situation. But at least it was over.

From his position on the bed, Taichi had a good view of Yamato's whole body just laying there . . . exposed. The blond still had marks on his body from the beatings he'd suffered in the past few days, but for some reason, they didn't turn Taichi off; he supposed because he now regarded them like . . . war wounds. Yamato hadn't mutilated himself – he had endured pain he had no control over, and seeing those marks didn't disgust Taichi (they only angered him towards the perpetrators). They weren't Yamato's fault, after all.

Taichi could only imagine how flawless Yamato would look without any injuries tarnishing his body. In fact, now that he thought about it – he had never seen Yamato _without_ a bruise or break in his skin. The weight of what that meant hit him – Yamato was _always_ hurt, every single day.

It made him sad. It made him want to protect Yamato even more.

But what kind of protector was he when he'd just let some stranger rape him?

Taichi sighed. Despite what he _wanted_ to do for Yamato . . . realistically, he just . . . couldn't.

Maybe Yamato hadn't been raised right, but Taichi sure had – even with no mother and practically no father, he'd been brought up by Hideki, and even Toru and Eito. Those guys had taught him how to play soccer in the first place; how to ride a bike; how to stand up for himself. They were his brothers, and he loved them (yes, even Toru) – and they loved him.

Only, they _hated_ Yamato . . .

Suddenly, the thought struck Taichi – was he actually _betraying_ his brothers by liking Yamato?

His head was just so confused. Why was everything so difficult and complicated? He wanted to be on his brothers' side – but he wanted to be on Yamato's, too. Was there a way he could be on both? Taichi doubted it. He couldn't see a way. He'd have to make a choice.

His brothers – or Yamato.

_Yamato_.

All this time Taichi had just been staring at Yamato's naked body - at the alluring curve of his arse. He wondered, vaguely, if he really was just being a hormonal-driven teenager. Was it just physical? If Yamato had been ugly, would he even care about the blond?

Slowly, curiously, Taichi got off his bed and proceeded to lower himself full-body on top of the blond in an experiment his mind had just made up.

Yamato had been crying silent tears into his stuffed animal, when he felt a hard body press against him. It had to be Taichi – he was the only other person in the room. He froze. His mind ran through a hundred different reasons why Taichi would be on top of him.

_Please don't rape me . . ._

His whole world as he knew it had just gone to shit, and he really didn't want Taichi to take advantage of him right now - but of course, as if it ever mattered what _he_ wanted . . .

Despite the fact that Taichi _had_ known Yamato was naked – he'd been staring at him for being nude since he'd entered the room – he suddenly became _aware_, on another level, just _how _naked Yamato was when their bodies made contact. Taichi himself wasn't wearing a shirt, and in fact the only piece of clothing separating them from being completely naked together was Taichi's loose-fitting shorts . . .

And it didn't help that the distinct aroma of _sex_ on Yamato's skin was intoxicating Taichi and pushing all his senses.

Yamato lifted his head up a little from his stuffed animal when he started to feel what could only be Taichi's growing erection pressing against his arse - making it crystal clear what Taichi was after. He squeezed his eyes shut. Even though he had been OK with the idea of Taichi having sex with him yesterday, as payment for all the kindness he had shown him in the past few days - a part of him had still clung onto the thought that maybe this day would never come, that maybe his brother had cared about him even just a little bit, so as not to hurt him like this.

But here Taichi was . . .

He should've known better than to be so naive.

_But . . . maybe Taichi won't be like the others . . . maybe he'll be gentle . . ._

That was the only thing Yamato could hope for, at this point. And, he reminded himself, Taichi _had_ stopped Ryu from fucking him earlier - which he was grateful for - so it wasn't like he didn't _owe_ Taichi a 'thank you' fuck. He owed him a lot of 'thank you' fucks this week, really.

Thinking about all the things Taichi had done for him - Yamato felt a little better about the act occurring now. He could feel Taichi slowly start to grind his crotch against his arse. One of the brunet's hands found its way around to his chest, while the other one had travelled down and around . . . to his genitals.

Yamato opened his eyes in surprise.

He hadn't expected that. He was used to some of his customers touching him there, but not one of his brothers – Hideki, Toru or Eito didn't go anywhere _near_ his penis. But Taichi . . . Taichi was definitely touching him there, which just made Yamato confused. Why would Taichi do that? He was his _brother_ . . . why would he touch his penis when the rest of his brothers wouldn't? Yamato didn't understand.

Taichi continued to cup and squeeze Yamato's testicles, before releasing them to stroke his penis, attempting to make the blond hard. The brunet's mind had stopped thinking ages ago – he was just . . . touching, exploring, on instinct. What he was doing was so new and different to him - he'd only ever touched himself _there_ before, never another guy, much less his _brother_ – and yet, it was clear he wasn't disgusted.

He was, in fact, incredibly turned on.

Then Taichi realised that Yamato hadn't responded to his advances – the blond hadn't moved at all, really. Did he not want him to touch him? His mind panicked a little at the possibility that Yamato might not like this - might not like _him_.

Taichi stopped what he was doing for a moment to flip Yamato over, so that the blond was now flat on his back, and staring up at the brunet.

Uncertain blue eyes met curious brown.

And then Taichi leaned forward and closed the gap between their lips.

Yamato's eyes widened further in surprise, but Taichi didn't see – the brunet's eyes were closed as he continued to explore the blond's mouth.

Again, Yamato's thoughts lingered on the fact that the rest of his brothers would never do this. He didn't understand what was happening at all – but it was his job to please Taichi . . .

So, slowly and hesitantly, Yamato began to respond to his brother. He applied some pressure to Taichi's lips, while his hands began travelling over the brunet's strong, firm back.

Taichi smiled into Yamato's mouth as he felt the blond start to reciprocate; the kissing was definitely getting a whole lot better now that it wasn't one-sided. And Taichi loved the feeling of Yamato's hands roaming his back, touching him. He could hardly believe that he was finally with the person he'd been fantasizing about for the past few nights, relishing in the fact that Yamato hadn't rejected him –

"Hey, Taichi –"

It was amazing how quickly something could come to an abrupt end.

The next three seconds were a blur to Taichi.

_One_.

He had pulled away.

_Two_.

Toru was standing in the doorway.

_Three_.

And Yamato had one hand covering his nose as blood seeped through his fingers and down his chin.

_Fuck._

* * *

**End of Chapter**

* * *

Well, there it is. Sorry for the majorly long wait. Life has been really, _really_ busy. :(

Regarding the story, I just want to confirm that Hiroaki is _not_ Yamato's father here, for those who might think otherwise – Susumu is definitely Yamato's father in this story. But Hiroaki is my absolute favourite Chosen parent – such a shame I had to make him an OOC douche. :( And writing his bit with Yamato was creepy . . . probably because I kept thinking of him as Yamato's father.

My biggest problem with writing this chapter was that it was getting way too long (yes, even longer than it is here!), and I just didn't like the flow of it because it really felt like I was writing two chapters in one. I realised that I kept getting frustrated because things that I had wanted to happen weren't actually happening yet, because there was too much to write. So . . . I've cut what I have in half, and this chapter actually ends in what was originally supposed to be the ending for the _previous_ chapter. Yeah, I really underestimate how long my dot point scenes go for, when written. So all the Kenato and Taito oral/anal sex scenes have been pushed back, unfortunately. The good news though is that it shouldn't take me _too_ long to release the sixth chapter – as in, you _might_ even see it within a month or two . . . depending on your responses, of course. ;)

Feedback is always greatly appreciated, and the only reason I continue to write – so thank you. :)


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